LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap. Copyright No 

Shelf___-__„. 



"P. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



GOD'S MESSENGERS. 



Showing the Hand of God in Christian 
Union as Revealed in Prophecy. 



BY 

E. O. BENNETT. 



"The sixteenth century was an epoch of a great separation. The nine- 
teenth must be one of great union."— D'Aubigne. 



NEW YORK: 

THE IRVING CO., PUB] 

1897. 



XC J/TJ/C?. 







Copyright, a.d. 1897, 

BY 

E. 0. BENNETT. 



LC Control Number 



tm P 96 027441 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



In presenting this little volume to the public, I 
do it with much anxiety but not without some 
hope that it may leave 

" Footprints on the sands of time, 
Footprints, that perhaps another 

Sailing o'er life's solemn main, 
Some forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

Seeing shall take heart again." 

That it will be satisfactory to all I cannot expect. 
But if it is the means of bringing hope to some lone 
pilgrim, who has long been praying " Thy King- 
dom come," and weeping over the desolation of 
Zion, and her long apostasy in sectarian bondage, I 
shall feel amply paid for my labor. To all, of every 
clime, denomination, or color, this book is affection- 
ately dedicated, hoping that in the hands of Him 
who prayed that all his people might be one, it may 
do something to advance the great movement for 
Christian union, which is now agitated with so 
much zeal. 

I feel conscious that we are on the threshold of 
some great revolution in the Christian world, and 
wish to throw my mite into this great work. 

I think we may already hear the sound of a going 



i v A UTHOR 'S PREFACE. 

in the tops of the mulberry -trees, that God is going 
before us to remove the greatest obstacle to the ad- 
vancement of His Kingdom. 

If we look back a single decade we can see a 
great change in the moral world. Infidelity is as- 
suming an aggressive form. It has made its attack 
on the church in every land. It is organizing for 
battle. There is no discord in its ranks. Where 
can you find anything more at variance than mate- 
rialistic infidelity and spiritualism, but they unite 
their forces to overthrow Christianity. We may 
be near the battle of the great day, which I think is 
not a battle of carnal weapons, but a moral conflict 
of infidelity against Christianity. Kevelation says, 
" He shall gather them together, Gog and Magog." 
This implies organic union. Infidelity has been 
abroad in the land from the earliest Christian era. 

England had a Bolingbroke, France a Yoltaire, 
Germany a Baur, and America a Payne, but it has 
been only a few years since organic union has com- 
menced. We find those of the most antagonistic 
sentiments, from the spiritualist to the materialist, 
from the most subtile philosopher to the agnostic, 
all in this army, and presenting a solid front against 
the Christian religion. This should teach the 
Christian soldiers to unite their forces against this 
subtile foe. 

The oncoming years have in store for us much of 
good or evil for the church. Christianity must 
either conquer or go down in the vortex. We have 
a valiant host marshaled in the field, and if there is 
unity of action and concentration in our work vic- 
tory will turn on Israel's side. 



A UTHOti % 8 PREFACE. v 

" To-day the noise of battle 
And then the victor's song." 

The last decade has wrought a great change in 
favor of union. Christians now feel not only the 
policy, but the necessity of organic union, and are 
looking about for means to carry it out. 

The subject of Christian union has rested on my 
mind for many years. In youth I hoped for the 
day to come when all denominations would give up 
their distinctive creeds, and come together in one 
grand organic union. What a glorious day that 
would be ! But 1 have now abandoned the dream 
of my youth. I begin to think such an event will 
never occur, at least in our day. The moral inertia 
of these great Christian denominations is too strong 
for the moral force that can be brought against it. 

Great reforms seldom begin in this way. They 
often have a very small beginning, and appear to 
the world insignificant. This makes the hand of 
God more visible in the movement. 

Some tell us when the old fogies die the young 
generation will be more liberal, and more favorable 
to union, but this does not seem to be realized, for 
the old fogies indoctrinate the young fogies so that 
when they grow up they become old fogies. Chil- 
dren are taught that all that is good and noble is 
inherent in their own denomination and is found in 
no other. A mother in San Francisco heard her 
little daughter saying some hard things about the 
Jews, and she rebuked her, telling her she should 
not say such things about the Jews, for Jesus was a 
Jew. " Why," said the little girl, " I did not know 
that, I thought he was a Congregationalism" 



v l A UTHOR '8 PREFACE. 

Christians have long been praying and laboring 
for union and died without the sight, but their 
prayers and tears have been remembered. 

This is one of the greatest reforms in the Chris- 
tian church. "We are led to ask the question, " Will 
not so great a reform be noticed in prophecy ?" 
The fall of Babylon was foretold hundreds of years 
before it was destroyed, and Cyrus the conqueror 
was even called by name. Will not the destruc- 
tion of mystic Babylon also be foretold ? We think 
this is done in Daniel and Revelation. 

We have been holding conventions, and writing 
and theorizing about Christian union for more than 
half a century. But in the eve of the nineteenth 
century there is a loud and urgent call for action. , 
Horace Greeley said the way to resume specie pay- 
ment was to resume, so I think the way to promote 
union is to unite. 

The reformation in the sixteenth century had 
long been working — agitated by godly men, who 
had given their lives for Christianity. The sacrifice 
and devotion of these heroes of the cross was the foun- 
dation work of the great reformation. Their prayers 
and tears and blood were to be rewarded, but the 
time had not yet come. All was ready when God 
sent his messenger in the person of the undaunted 
Monk of Wittenberg to begin the practical work of 
reformation. 

The great work of the union reform has been 
done, or clearly marked out. The paper called the 
Church Union and other agencies have been at 
work for twenty years, and they have achieved 
great results. The doctrinal basis has been settled, 



A UTHOR 'S PREFACE. v ii 

which is in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty. 
The theory and .discussion about any other basis is 
useless, for there can be no other doctrinal basis for 
Christian union. 

The evils of a divided church cannot be denied. 
The rivalry and strife between the different de- 
nominations is the source of great evil to the cause 
of Christ, and the waste of money, and ministerial 
labor in sustaining so many supernumerary churches 
is immense. It is safe to say that in our own coun- 
try the labor of three thousand ministers is useless, 
and the expenditure of three millions of dollars a 
year is worse than wasted. 

In this book I have used all possible brevity con- 
sistent with a fair development of my subject. I have 
not dwelt at length on the evils of disunion, nor the 
blessings of union, only sufficient to illustrate my 
subject. 

Let us come together on the common basis of the 
essential doctrines of the Gospel plainly revealed in 
the Bible, and a glorious day will dawn on the 
Christian world. 

May God grant me length of days to see the work 
of Christian union on the highway to success. When 
.til who love Christ will be one in name, and one in 
heart, valiant in the defense of the Christian faith, 
and waiting for the Lord's appearing. Then can I 
say, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, 
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." 

E. O. Bennett. 

Kogers, Ark., May, 1897. 



GOD'S MESSENGERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Daniel's prophecy. 

In all the prophecies of the Bible there is none so 
full of interest to us as the prophecies of Daniel ; 
none that gives us so clear an insight to the world's 
history. Too little attention is paid to these won- 
derful visions of that inspired prophet, to whom 
God gave the message reaching down to modern 
times. 

Some of these prophecies were to be sealed up 
until the latter days, when " Many shall run to and 
fro "and knowledge shall be increased." These 
prophecies pointed out so clearly the time when 
the Messiah should appear that the Jews were look- 
ing for him at the time when He appeared. John 
says, " Art thou he that should come, or do we look 
for another % n 

It gives an epitome of the great events to take 
place in the world. And history abundantly attests 
the truth of these predictions. 

Daniel was taken captive in the first year of the 
reign of Nebuchadnezzar, when he was probably 
about twenty years old. His wisdom in the inter- 
pretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream first brought 
him into notice by the king. He was exalted in the 



10 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

empire, and so highly was he favored that succeed- 
ing kings made him prime minister of their king- 
doms. 

The great burden on his mind was to know the 
future welfare of his people the Jews, and the final 
triumph of God's people. He gave an outline of 
the national events to take place in the world, the 
rise and fall of empires as landmarks to show God's 
dealings with his people. Thus Babylon is first 
brought to view when she took part in the captivity 
of the children of Israel. 

If we bear in mind the leading theme of the 
prophecies of Daniel we can better understand the 
language. We have no evidence in all his writings 
that he was anxious to know the destiny of the 
world nor the time of its end. Thus when he speaks 
of the " time of the end " he evidently does not 
mean the end of the world, but the time of the end 
of these things of which he is speaking, as it relates 
to the church or his people, or the sanctuary, and 
not the end of the world as some are inclined to 
think. This is clearly seen in his wonderful prayer 
recorded in the ninth chapter. He had been read- 
ing the prophecies of Jeremiah, and had found that 
the time of the captivity of his people was near 
an end. And in his prayer he confessed the sins of 
his people, and the justness of their punishment. 
Then he prayed for light, and information in regard 
to their future, and before the prayer was ended an 
angel was sent to give him the needed information. 

His interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's image to 
represent the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and 
Eoman empires, history tells us followed each other 



DANIEL'S PROPHECY. 11 

just as predicted. This vision is repeated in the 
seventh chapter with some additional information. 

At the close of the eighth chapter Daniel records 
a vision of great importance to the Christian world 
in our day. In all the visions, which embraced four 
hundred years and more, no mention is made of 
time. He does not tell the time occupied, in the rise 
and fall of these four great empires. Bat in the 
thirteenth verse we have a change in the style. 
Time is brought to view. He says, " Then I heard 
one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that 
certain saint which spake, How long shall be the 
vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the trans- 
gression of desolation to give both the sanctuary, 
and the host to be trodden under foot. And he 
said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hun- 
dred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." 
The subject here brought to view is not one of suc- 
cession, but how long? when will these things be ? 

Daniel heard two celestal beings talking with 
themselves, intended no doubt for his instruction. 
They were talking about time. These celestial be- 
ings were talking about the future of the church as 
connected with the world's history. Daniel, and 
through him the whole world, may listen to these 
messengers of God concerning the great events 
brought before us in these visions. 

This seems to be a general statement concerning 
the longest period of time on record, without giving 
the date of the beginning of the period. It merely 
covers the whole time in which he was to give the 
events taking place in the intermediate time of 
which he was soon to speak. Thus Macaulay be- 



12 GOD f S MESSENGERS. 

gins his history of England by saying, " I propose 
to write the history of England from the accession 
of King James II. down to time which is within 
the memory of men still living." So the angel an- 
nounces his subject, giving the scope of the vision, 
and the event to take place at the end of this period. 
Then Daniel heard a voice between the banks of 
Ulai which said, " Gabriel, make this man to under- 
stand the vision, so he came near where I stood 
and when he came I was afraid and fell upon my 
face, but he said unto me, Understand, O son of 
man, for at the time of the end shall be the vision. 
Now as he was speaking with me I was in a deep 
sleep, my face toward the ground, but he touched 
me and set me upright. And he said, Behold I 
will make thee know what shall be in the end of 
the indignation, for at the time appointed the end 
shall be. " 

Here it is important to notice that the angel was 
commanded to make Daniel understand the vision. 
Then if he did not do it he failed to fulfil the 
celestial command, which we cannot believe he 
would do. Then if he did not understand the 
vision this time we must expect the explanation to 
be made at some subsequent time. But did he 
make Daniel understand at this time ? He had 
given the length of time of this prophetic period 
reaching down to modern times, and told the event 
to take place at the end of the two thousand and 
three hundred days, which was the cleansing of the 
sanctuary. The angel had just begun to make 
Daniel understand what should take place at the 
end of this prophetic period. He had given him 



DANIEL'S PROPHECY. 13 

the outlines of the vision, when Daniel was over- 
come by the strain of excitement which he had been 
under, and fainted, so the angel could make no 
further revelations to him at this time. The angel 
had given no date for the beginning of this long 
period, by which he could reckon the time of the 
end and understand the vision. He says at the end 
of this communication with the angel, "And I, 
Daniel, fainted and was sick certain days ; after- 
ward I rose up and did the king's business, and I 
was astonished at the vision, but none understood 
it." And this closes the vision. If then he was not 
made to understand the vision, and he himself ac- 
knowledged that he did not, the angel did not obey 
the celestial command, unless ne made him to under- 
stand in some subsequent vision. He was told that 
the vision of the evening and the morning which 
was told is true. There can be no doubt that this 
refers to the twenty-three hundred days, as this is the 
only place where time is spoken off. The language 
is similar to that used in Genesis, where in giving an 
account of the creation it is said " the evening and 
the morning were the first day." Here this term 
evening and morning is used to denote a period of 
time, perhaps a very long period. So here it must 
refer to a period of time, which he says is true, show- 
ing the great importance he attached to this long 
prophetic period. As this vision closes with a con- 
fession from Daniel that he did not understand the 
vision, we must look for the needed information in 
the next chapter relating another vision. 

Daniel was commanded to shut up the vision. 
The reason given was that " it should be for many 



14 GOD *8 MESSENGERS. 

days." How did he obey this command ? He did 
not do it by leaving no record of the vision; on the 
other hand he recorded the exact words of the 
angel so plain that any one for these thousand years 
could read it. Did Daniel then obey the angel's 
command ? We think he did. The term shut up, 
or seal up, in the Bible means to make obscure so 
that it could not be easily understood. A book that 
is obscure or hard to understand is called a sealed 
book. In Isaiah xxix.ll we have this language, "And 
the vision of all is become unto you as a sealed book 
which men deliver to one that is learned saying, 
Eead this, I pray thee." In this case the book, 
or the parchment roll as the books were then, was 
not sealed, but it was hard to understand. This 
then was the command given to Daniel to make it 
obscure or hard to understand. The reason given 
for sealing it up was " for it shall be for many 
days." Now if Daniel was obedient to this com- 
mand he did this. 

In the next vision the angel gave another period 
allotted to his people reaching to the coming of the 
Messiah, which was to be seventy weeks, but he did 
not leave this period in obscurity, but told just 
when it should begin, which was from the going 
forth of the command to restore and to build Jeru- 
salem so that any one could reckon the time when 
Christ should come. And the Jews did compute 
the time very exactly, and were looking for the 
Messiah just at the time when he appeared. Daniel 
was not told to seal up this vision, because it was 
soon to take place, and it was important that the 
Jews should knew the time of his appearance. 



DANIEL'S PROPhEGT. 15 

"We must conclude that the angel did make 
Daniel understand the vision, for we cannot believe 
that the angel would be disobedient to the celestial 
command ; then why did he not record it so that all 
could easily understand just as he did the vision 
about the coming of Christ ? "We reply the reason 
was because he was commanded to " shut up the 
vision." 

"What would have been the probable result if he 
had plainly given us the date of the beginning of 
the twenty-three hundred days when the sanctuary 
should be cleansed ? They would have computed the 
time when this would take place, just as they did the 
coming of the Messiah. How the world would have 
been convulsed about the event of cleansing the 
sanctuary ! They would have wondered and theo- 
rized, and worried, about the great event soon to 
take place. Volume after volume would have been 
written on the subject, and all this labor and anxiety 
would have been of no avail, for with all their wis- 
dom they could not have found out what the cleans- 
ing of the sanctuary referred to, without the facts in 
history to guide them as we now have. 

But it was wisely sealed up to the time of the 
end — that is, to near the end of this long time of 
prophecy. But when the end came the vision was 
opened, and we think the opening of this book is 
noticed in the Apocalypse, which we think is a 
sequel to the book of Daniel. 

But we must now notice the length of time indi- 
cated by the twenty -three hundred days. First we 
can see that it was not literal days, for that would 
make only a little more than six years, a time far too 



16 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

short for the accomplishment of any great work, so 
we must conclude that the language is figurative. 
The next period to days measured by the sun is 
years, so we conclude that years are meant, each 
day for a year, making twenty-three hundred years. 
For this mode of interpretation we have ample 
proof in the Bible. In Num. xiv. 34 it is said, "After 
the days io which ye searched the land, even forty 
days each day for a year." And in Ezek. iv. 6, 
" And when thou hast accomplished them lie again 
on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity 
of the house of Juda forty days. I have appointed 
thee each day for a year." Ezekiel also symbolizes 
a year by days in the Babylonian captivity. Bishops 
Newton, Kirby, Scott, Keith, and others adopt this 
mode of interpretation. But the most conclusive 
proof of the correctness of the year-day principle is 
that when it is applied to the seventy weeks it ex- 
actly tallies with the account of the appearance of 
Christ. 



KEY TO THE VISION, 17 



CHAPTER II. 

KEY TO THE VISION. 

Fifteen years had passed away since the last 
vision recorded in the eighth chapter. Revolution 
had shaken the empires of the world. Another 
king had taken the place of the proud King of 
Babylon. Cyrus had long since been called as 
God's messenger to do this work, and the prophet 
had even called him by name. The Medo-Persian 
king had usurped the throne of proud Belshazzar. 
The time was near when captive Israel was to be 
released from bondage, and permitted to return to 
their beloved land, for which their hearts had 
yearned for so many long years. While Daniel was 
burdened with the labors of prime minister of one of 
the greatest nations on earth, he still found time to 
study God's promises, as revealed by his prophets. 
Seventy years of captivity had not weakened his zeal 
and longing for the restoration of his people to their 
beloved city, Jerusalem. Not fearing the king nor 
the watchful eye of his enemies, his window was 
open toward Jerusalem when he prayed for their 
deliverance from bondage. 

He had found out, by studying the prophecies of 
Jeremiah, that the time of the deliverance of his 
people from bondage was near at hand. Jeremiah 



18 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

had said (chapter xxv. 12) : "And it shall come to 
pass when seventy years are accomplished that I 
will punish the King of Babylon and that nation, 
saith the Lord, for their iniquities." This had been 
accomplished and the end was near. Daniel was 
God's messenger to proclaim this decree of the 
Almighty to the people. Thus, when any great 
event in fulfilment of prophecy is about to take place, 
God has raised up some messenger to announce it to 
the world. Sometimes they are chosen from the 
great and renowned of earth, sometimes from the 
humble walks of life. John was called to announce 
that the time had come for the Messiah to appear, 
and he knew well his mission. The unlearned fish- 
ermen of Galilee were God's messengers to bear the 
gospel to the world. 

Daniel knew by the study of books that the time 
had come to vindicate God's promises to his people 
in their deliverance from bondage. His strong faith 
in God's promises and his zeal for the welfare of his 
people may be the reason why he was so often 
"called dearly beloved." 

In the last vision the angel had communicated a 
long and important period, at the end of which the 
sanctuary should be cleansed. As the angel had as 
yet given him no date from which to calculate the 
twenty-three hundred days, and as the sanctuary 
was spoken of, and he did not yet understand the 
vision, it would be natural for him to suppose that 
this referred to the restoration of the temple service, 
for the sanctuary had been desolate and the temple 
laid waste. But he could not reconcile the long 
period of twenty-three hundred days with that 



IEY TO THE VISION, 19 

event, which according to prophecy was so 
near at hand. And in this perplexity, and his 
ardent desire to know what was allotted to his peo- 
ple in the future, we find him making that remark- 
able prayer recorded in the ninth chapter. He 
begins by confessing his sins and the sins of his 
people. Then, in reviewing God's care and signal 
deliverance of his people in times past, pleads for 
his aid in restoring them again to their favored land 
and worship at Jerusalem. In this prayer he re- 
members the sanctuary, which had been made des- 
olate. 

While he was yet speaking, we are told, Gabriel 
appeared to him, and again assured him that he was 
greatly beloved. 

Fifteen years had passed since his last visit, but 
Daniel knew him to be the same angel who had ap- 
peared to him in the first vision. He says, " It is 
Gabriel, whom he had seen in the vision at the 
beginning," doubtless referring to the communication 
recorded in the eighth chapter. This is the next 
vision of which we have any record, which the 
prophet had with the celestial visitor. Hence, we 
may expect him to explain to him that which he 
did not understand in his last visit. He had now 
come to give him skill and additional knowledge. 
Gabriel speaks, and says, " O Daniel, I am now 
come forth to give thee skill and understanding," 
as if he had said, " In my last visit, I was obliged to 
leave you without making you to fully understand 
the vision, because you could not endure more, 
hence you were perplexed, and I did not make you 
understand as I was commanded to do, therefore 



20 GOJ) 'S MESSENGERS. 

I am now come, O Daniel, greatly beloved, to 
give you understanding, therefore understand the 
matter and consider the vision." 

This could have reference to nothing but the 
vision recorded in the eighth chapter. If Gabriel 
had come to make him understand the vision in the 
eighth chapter we may expect him to begin with 
that part of the vision which he did not understand, 
namely, that relating to time. 

He begins by saying "Seventy weeks are de- 
termined upon thy people and upon thy holy city." 
He says nothing about the empires of the earth, as 
represented by the image and the beasts, but begins 
with time, just the thing Daniel did not understand. 
He begins with a statement precisely similar to that 
of the twenty-three hundred days recorded in the 
eighth chapter, where he was broken off by Daniel's 
sickness, but giving a different period of time, and 
telling what should be at the end of this period, just 
as he had done at the end of the twenty -three hun- 
dred days, when the sanctuary should be cleansed. 

This shorter period would end with the time 
when God's covenant with the Jews as his peculiar 
people should end, and the Gentiles be brought in. 

This time was given very definitely, but as yet 
there was no key given by which he could under- 
stand this period any more than the twenty-three 
hundred days. 

They both stand in the same relation, for there 
was no starting point given from which to compute 
the end. So the angel's message was not complete. 

But in the twenty-fifth verse he gives the key to 
unlock all these periods of prophetic time. 



KEY TO THE VISION 21 

He says, " Know therefore and understand that 
from the going forth of the commandment to re- 
store and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the 
Prince shall be seven weeks, the streets shall be 
built again and the walls even in troublous times." 

Here, then, we have the grand starting point of all 
these lines of prophecy. Then if we can find out 
the time of the going forth of the commandment 
we can easily compute the termination of the 
twenty-three hundred days, when the sanctuary is 
to be cleansed. 



%<% GOD >S MESSENGERS. 



CHAPTER III. 

DATE OF THE PROPHETIC TIME. 

Having shown in the last chapter that the ninth 
chapter of Daniel is an explanation of the eighth 
chapter, as well as giving additional information in 
regard to the future history of the world, and that 
all these lines of prophecy started at the going forth 
of the commandment to restore and build Jerusa- 
lem, it will now be in place to ascertain the time of 
the going forth of this commandment. On this 
point we have abundant testimony. There are 
many events mentioned in this prediction to test 
the correctness of our chronology. 

There are three events which have been claimed 
by different writers as the going forth of the com- 
mandment to restore and build Jerusalem. First, 
the decree of Cyrus for the rebuilding of the house 
of God, b.c. 536, Ezek. i. 4 ; second, the decree of 
Darius for the prosecution of the work which had 
been hindered about seventeen years ; third, the de- 
cree of Artaxerxes Longimanus to Ezra, b.c 457, 
Ezra vii. There was also a permission given to 
Nehemiah to assist in the work, or a letter of intro- 
duction which could not be called a decree, which 
we may suppose would be written and signed by 
the king. 



DATE OF THE PROPHETIC! TIME. %% 

The decree of Cyrus could not be the command- 
ment in question, for that pertained simply to the 
temple at Jerusalem, but the commandment was to 
restore and build Jerusalem, not the temple only, 
but the whole city. This decree was b.c. 536. 

If we take sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and 
eighty-three years, which was to extend to the Mes- 
siah the Prince, it falls short fifty-three years of 
reaching even to the birth of Christ. The work 
which Cyrus did was dictated by the Lord. He was 
called to do this work a hundred years before his 
birth, and his decree was a step in the work of resto- 
ration, but it was too limited to meet the require- 
ments of prophecy. Seven years after this Cyrus 
died, and was succeeded by Cambyses, called in Ezra 
iv. 6 Ahasuerus. 

The work of rebuilding being hindered by 
enemies, Darius having come to the Persian throne, 
and finding the decree of Cyrus among the records 
of the kings, reaffirmed the decree of Cyrus, with 
some additional promises. 

But this decree was only seventeen years from 
the decree of Cyrus, and therefore fails the specifi- 
cations of prophecy. The decree of Artaxerxes 
Longimanus, given b.o. 457, meets all the require- 
ments of the prophecy recorded in Ezra vii. This 
Artaxerxes was the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther, 
which accounts for the favor he showed the Jews. 
This decree was drawn up in formal order and was 
called a decree. It was written not in Hebrew but 
in Chaldaic. 

Thus says Prof. Whiting: "We are furnished 
with the original document by virtue of which Ezra 



24 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

was authorized to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." 
He gave him full and ample power for the work of 
rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring the laws and 
government of the people. No such power was given 
to any other person. And we have a remarkable 
declaration in Ezra vi. 14 showing that all of these 
decrees are taken as the command to restore and 
build Jerusalem. He says, " And they builded and 
finished it according to the commandment of the 
God of Israel, and according to the commandment 
of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of 
Persia." Here the three decrees of these kings is 
called the commandment when the work of rebuild- 
ing was finished. Then the commandment went 
forth in the sense of prophecy. 

Now if we can determine when this decree went 
forth we have the key to this long line of prophecy 
reaching down to our times. As we have ascer- 
tained that the decree to restore and build Jerusa- 
lem, and to restore the temple worship, and the 
civil institutions by the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, 
and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia, and that it was 
completed and went forth when Artaxerxes Longi- 
manus gave the commandment to Ezra to carry out 
the work. The next question to solve is, What year 
of the world was this ? Ezra says it was in the 
seventh year of the king, Ezra vii. 8. What year 
then was the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign? 
The following is a concise answer to the question, 
taken from the Advent Herald : 

" The Bible gives the data for a complete system 
of chronology extending from the creation to the 
birth of Cyrus, a clearly ascertained date. From 



DATE OF THE PROPHETIC TIME. 25 

this period downward wc have the undisputed 
Canon of Ptolemy and the undisputed testimony 
of Nabonassar, extending below our vulgar era. 
At the point when inspired chronology leaves us, 
this canon of undoubted accuracy commences, and 
thus the whole arch is spanned. 

" This canon places the seventh year of Artaxerxes 
in the year b.c, 457, and the accuracy of this canon 
is demonstrated by the concurrent agreement of 
more than twenty eclipses. This date we cannot 
change from b.c. 457 without first demonstrating 
the inaccuracy of Ptolemy's canon. To do this it 
would become necessary to show that the large 
number of eclipses by which the accuracy has been 
repeatedly demonstrated has not been correctly 
computed, and such a result would unsettle every 
chronological date, and leave the settlement of 
epochs and the adjustment of eras entirely at the 
mercy of every dreamer, so that chronology would 
be of no more value than guess-work. 

" Now the commencement of the reign of Artax- 
erxes Longimanus was b.c. 464, is demonstrated by 
the agreement of above twenty eclipses, which have 
been repeatedly calculated, and has invariably been 
found to fall on the time specified. Before it can 
be shown that the commencement of his reign is 
wrongly fixed it must first be shown that those 
eclipses have been wrongly calculated. This no one 
has done or even will venture to do. Consequently 
the commencement of his reign cannot be removed 
from this point." 

It will thus be seen that the date of the seventh 
year of Artaxerxes rests largely upon the record of 



26 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

history respecting eclipses, and the testimony of 
astronomy as to the time when these eclipses oc- 
curred. Of the accuracy with which the dates of 
eclipses may be settled Prof. Michel says : 

" Go back three thousand years — stand upon that 
mighty arch- tower, the temple of Belus in old 
Babylon, and look out. The sun is sinking in 
eclipse, and great is the dismay of the terror- 
stricken inhabitants. We have the facts and cir- 
cumstances recorded. But how shall we prove that 
record correct ? The astronomer unravels the de- 
vious movements of the sun, the earth, and the 
moon, through the whole period of the three thou- 
sand years, with the power of intellect. He goes 
back through the cycles of thirty long centuries and 
announces that at such an hour, and such a day as 
the Chaldean has written that eclipse did take place." 

Respecting the authority of the canon of Ptolemy, 
Prideaux says : " But Ptolemy's canon being fixed 
by eclipses, the truth of it may at any time be dem- 
onstrated by astronomical calculations, and no one 
has ever calculated those eclipses but hath found 
them fall in the right time where placed, and there- 
fore this being the surest guide which we have in 
chronology, and it being also verified by its agree- 
ment everywhere with the Holy Scriptures, it is not 
for the authority of any other human writing what- 
soever to be receded from." 

Thus we find the date or starting point of all 
these prophetic periods to be the seventh year of 
Artaxerxes, 457 b.c. We shall not take time to 
examine in detail all the intermediate predictions in 
this chapter, but we find that they all harmonize 



DATE OF THE PROPHETIC TIME. tf 

with this date as a starting point. This is the 
strongest confirmation that it is correct, and that it 
was the date from which the Jews calculated the 
time when the Messiah should come. 

It is as if the angel had said to Daniel, in this 
visit, " In answer to your prayer I have now come 
to finish my work and to give you the starting 
point of the twenty-three hundred days." And 
Daniel no doubt understood the connection of this 
visit with that recorded in the preceding chapter, 
and he no doubt would have made it plain to the 
reader had he not been commanded to shut up the 
vision. A portion of this time I have given is 
allotted to your people and the holy city Jerusalem, 
and this period, comprising seventy weeks, is the 
first four hundred and ninety years of the twenty- 
three hundred days. Some writers contend with 
good authority that the word translated " deter- 
mined " should have been translated " cut off." If 
this rendering is the correct one it shows very 
clearly that the meaning is that this time is cut off 
from the twenty-three hundred days, so that it is 
clear that this is the time referred to. Thus we 
can see by following out the predictions, and com- 
paring them with the events which history tells us 
have taken place, that the date of the beginning 
and mode of interpretation must be correct. 

We are now prepared to enter more fully into the 
investigation of this long line of prophecy of twenty- 
three hundred days. And here we wish to state that 
as the angel spoke twice of this period to Daniel and 
told him that it was true, it shows it to be of much 
importance. But if there is no starting point to this 



28 GOD *S MESSENGERS. 

period it is entirely useless, and may as well not 
have been uttered. But as all Scripture is given 
for our instruction, there must be some way of un- 
derstanding it. We do not claim any originality in 
| this chronology. It is in substance that of William 
Miller. We have presented some of his statements 
and method of calculation, as they are so little 
known in this day. While he was mistaken as to 
what the sanctuary referred to, we believe he was 
correct in his chronology. It has stood the test of 
criticism by scholars for half a century, and it has 
never been refuted. 



TERMINATION OF THE PROPHETIC PERIOD, 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TERMINATION OF THE TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED 
DATS. 

"We are now prepared to notice the events attend- 
ing the termination of this long prophetic period. 
If we subtract 457 b.c., the time when these lines 
of prophecy began, from 2300, it will leave 1843 as 
the time when it would expire. This was the time 
first set by William Miller for the end of the world. 
But upon more mature reflection it was found that 
it must extend into the following year. For it 
would take four hundred and fifty-seven full 
years before Christ, and eighteen hundred and 
forty-three full years after to make the twenty- 
three hundred years. Therefore, if the days com- 
menced with the very first day of 45T b.c they would 
not terminate till the very last day of 1843. But 
we have evidence that they did not commence 
with the first day of 457 b.c, but some portion of 
that year had elapsed before the decree went forth. 
It is thought from the history of the times that 
it was in the autumn of the year 457 b.c when the 
edict went forth. Thus we are brought to the 
autumn of the year 1844 as the point where the 
twenty-three hundred days terminated, so that this 
was the year when the excitement was so high in 
regard to the end of the world. 



30 GOD y S MESSENGERS. 

God has never left his church without a faithful 
messenger to proclaim his will to the world when 
some important epoch was at hand. Many men liv- 
ing can well remember the wave of excitement that 
swept over the whole world from 1840 to 1844 — a 
movement such as the world had never before seen. 
In different parts of tne world Christians of all de- 
nominations joined in the great outcry. It went 
to every missionary station on the globe. Treasures 
were poured out in abundance to advance the cause. 
A host of ministers, some of the most learned and 
godly of the land, spent their time and talents in its 
vindication. And what did all this mean under the 
guiding hand of an overruling Providence ? Not 
that the end of the world had come, but that this 
long prophetic period had expired. 

The people were greatly disappointed when 
the end did not come, but this does not 
prove that the hand of God was not in it. The 
vital point in this movement was true, namely, that 
the time had come, God's long predicted time had 
arrived, and it was meet that some such event 
should mark the announcement. If in 1844 the last 
prophetic period did end, that fact would be suffi 
cient reason why God should be in the movement, 
notwithstanding the mistake of his servants. 

Daniel says, "Men shall run to and fro, and 
knowledge shall be increased.' 7 This, no doubt, 
refers to the time of the fulfilment of this prophecy. 
Some interpret this to refer to the time when 
men should travel on fast railroad trains and visit 
the whole world, and science and learning should be 
promulgated, and scattered over the world by the 



TERMINATION OF THE PROPHETIC PERIOD. 31 

printing press. But the prophet says nothing about 
these swift messengers, and nothing about science 
or inventions. But they shall run, and knowledge 
shall be increased. Knowledge of what ? Of the 
things relating to the f ulfiling of this prophecy. It 
means they shall be enthusiastic in carrying the 
news of the supposed end of the world — just what 
was witnessed in the Miller ite excitement. They 
had advanced knowledge of the chronology of this 
prophecy. Knowledge had been increased when 
"William Miller made the calculation. The world 
had known the prophecy ever since it was uttered, 
but now they had increased knowledge in regard to 
the time of its fulfilment. 

Had Mr. Miller understood the cleansing of the 
sanctuary to be a moral work his followers would 
not have had so much enthusiasm, in spreading the 
news, and his interpretation would probably have 
been rejected. They would have said the time is too 
near, there is not time for a great moral renovation. 
Mr. Miller's mistake was a great factor in making the 
great announcement of the termination of this long 
line of prophecy. "Why was the excitement so gen- 
eral, and so many intelligent men engaged in it ? 
"Was it because Mr. Miller had made the prediction 
that the world was to meet its doom at that time ? 
This would be placing a light estimate on the intel- 
ligence of the people. No, it was because Mr. Mill- 
er's predictions had caused them to study, and 
examine the reasons for the conclusions in his 
chronology, and they failed to find any fault with 
his reasoning, so they were forced to accept his 
conclusions in regard to the time as correct, that 



32 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

the time had come for the sanctuary to be cleansed. 
Some thought it would be a moral cleansing, but 
as they looked around they could not see the 
indications of any event likely to take place which 
could in any sense represent the moral cleansing of 
the sanctuary. Therefore, in this dilemma it was 
natural for them to fall in with Mr. Miller, that the 
earth was the sanctuary which was to be cleansed 
by the fires of the last day. 

God sometimes uses the mistakes and blunders of 
men to carry out his great plans in the government 
and destiny of the world. We cannot see how the 
event of the expiration of this long line of prophecy 
could have been so signally and so universally pro- 
claimed had not Mr. Miller and his associates made 
such a mistake in interpreting the meaning of the 
sanctuary. That, as they supposed, the world was 
so near its end was what gave zest to the move- 
ment. 

Some may start up with holy horror at the 
mention of William Miller. Why, they say he was 
that impostor who created such an excitement about 
the end of the world in 1844. There may be many 
like the writer, who well remembers the Millerite 
excitement in his boyhood, but who, after the time 
passed, and the world still rolled on in its steady 
course, and the seasons went and came as usual, dis- 
missed the subject from their minds with the as- 
sumption that Mr. Miller was wrong in all his 
calculations, not even taking the trouble to inform 
themselves in regard to the foundation on which his 
chronology was based as to the time of the fulfil- 
ment of the prophecy of Daniel. 



TERMINATION OF THE PROPHETIC PERIOD. 33 

By reading the life of William Miller, we find 
him to be eminently a man of God, and well quali- 
fied by his meekness and disregard of the world's 
opinions to be God's messenger in proclaiming the 
end of this prophetic time. That he made a mis- 
take in thinking the sanctuary symbolized the 
world is apparent to every one, but his chronology 
has stood scientific criticism for half a century and 
no one has been able to show the fallacy of his logic. 
This is strong evidence that it is correct. We think 
these calculations were original with him. There is 
a tradition that a minister in Scotland came to the 
same conclusions early in this century. But as Mr. 
Miller's library was limited, probably he had no 
knowledge of these writings. At least he first gave 
extensive publicity to it. 

The late George Bush, professor of Hebrew and 
Oriental literature in New York University, in a 
letter addressed to Mr. Miller in 1844, made some 
very important admissions relative to his calcula- 
tions of the prophecies of Daniel. Professor Bush 
says : " Neither is it to be objected to, as I conceive, 
to yourself, or your friends, that you devoted much 
time and attention to the study of the chronology 
of prophecy, and have labored much to determine 
the commencing and closing dates of its great 
periods. If these periods are actually given by the 
Holy Ghost in the prophetic book, it was doubtless 
with the design that they should be studied and 
probably in the end understood, and. no man is to 
be charged with presumptuous folly who reverently 
makes the attempt to do this. On this point I have 
myself no charges to bring against you. Nay, I 



34 QOD'S MESSENGERS. 

am ready even to go so lar as to say, that I do not 
conceive your erro ■ on the subject of chronology to 
be very wide of the truth. The taking a day as the 
prophetic time for a year I believe is sustained by 
sound exegesis, as well as fortified by the high 
names of Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Kirby, Scott, 
Keith, and a host of others who have long since 
come to, substantially, your conclusions on this head. 
They all agree that the leading periods mentioned 
by Daniel and John do actually expire about this 
age of the world, and it would be a strange logic 
that would convict you of heresy for holding in 
effect the same views, which stand forth so promi- 
nent in the notices of these eminent divines. Your 
error, as I apprehend, lies in another direction than 
your chronology. You have entirely mistaken the 
nature of the events which are to occur when these 
periods have expired. This is the head and front of 
your expository offending. That the close of the 
twenty-three hundred days of Daniel, for instance, 
is also the close of the period of human pro- 
bation, that it is an epoch of visible and personal 
second coming of Christ, of the resurrection of the 
righteous dead, and the desolation of the present 
mundane system. The great event before the world 
is not its physical conflagration, but its moral regen- 
eration. It will be found to be a spiritual coming 
in the honor of his gospel, in ample outpouring of 
his spirit, and the glorious administration of his 
providence." From this we understand that Prof. 
Bush looked for the conversion of the world as the 
event to mark the termination of the twenty-three 
hundred days, which we conceive to be eminently 



TERMINATION OF THE PROPHETIC PERIOD. 35 

correct, though perhaps not just in the way he had 
marked out. 

Mr. Hinton, who wrote at the time, said : " It is 
possible we may have reached the goal of the 
world's moral destiny. It indeed is our deliberate 
opinion that we are in the general period of the ter- 
mination of the twenty-third century alluded to by 
the prophet, and that the events alluded to in the 
phrase, ' then shall the sanctuary be cleansed,' are 
now actually passing before us." 

It cannot be made to appear that the movement 
of Mr. Miller and his associates could not be a ful- 
filment of prophecy because they were disappointed 
on the very point of their highest expectations. 
But prophecy was fulfiled, we think, not only in 
their proclamation to the world, but also in their 
disappointment, as we shall notice hereafter. 

The prophet Zachariah uttered these words about 
five hundred years before their fulfilment : " Kejoice 
greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of 
Jerusalem, behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is 
just, and having salvation, lonely and riding upon 
an ass." 

In the fulfilment of this prophecy when Christ 
was riding into Jerusalem in this humble manner 
expressed by the prophet, the chosen twelve, and 
the shouting multitude cried, " Hosanna to the son of 
David." They did not understand the nature of 
Christ's kingdom. They thought when they 
shouted their hosannas that he was to be a tem- 
poral king. Their mistake was as great, as we 
look upon it, as was that of Mr. Miller and his ad- 



36 GOD f S MESSENGERS, 

miring crowd, but this did not prevent its being a 
fulfilment of prophecy. 

Prophecy is generally given in symbolical lan- 
guage, and it is often so obscure that it cannot be 
understood until the time has expired, and histor- 
ical events are compared with the symbols of 
prophecy. And it is worthy of note that these 
impressions come in answer to prayer. Although 
it was doubtless the intention of God to make 
Daniel understand the vision, there was a delay of 
about fifteen years and then the explanation came 
in answer to his earnest prayer. Before a few 
years previous to 1844, the prophecy of Daniel 
respecting this long period was but little studied, 
and the obscurity in regard to the beginning pre- 
vented its being understood. 

As the date of the beginning of this prophecy is 
so important to our conclusions, we will recapitu- 
late a little. Let us state briefly some things which 
cannot be doubted. One of these facts is that the date 
of the beginning of the seventy weeks, which was 
b.c. 457, leads to some of the most important events 
predicted, and they Lave been fulfilled to the letter 
by using this date as the key. It will not do to say 
they are only coincidences. The one respecting the 
advent of Christ, and the time when the Messiah 
should be cut off. The fulfilment of these predic- 
tions all came in the right time. As these interpre- 
tations are so unquestionably established, had the 
twenty -three hundred days been recorded in con- 
nection with the seventy weeks, no one could have 
doubted that the time expired in 1844, and the 



TERMINATION OF TEE PROPHETIC PERIOD. 37 

result would have been a long period of useless 
anxiety. 

The only question in dispute is this : Is the vision 
in the ninth chapter an explanation of that in the 
eighth chapter of Daniel, which we think we have 
shown to be a fact. And we think we can see good 
reasons why the connection was not made clear as 
we have already suggested. Had the two visions 
been in the same connection, the end of this period 
could have been as easily computed as that of the 
coming of the Messiah. This would have been too 
specific to have met the ends and needs of prophecy. 
It would have caused a long period of needless anx- 
iety and fruitless search for the explanation. 
Therefore Daniel was instructed to shut up the 
vision, and in this manner it was sealed up until the 
" time of the end," or near its termination in 1844. 
We have an irresistible inference that the vision in 
the ninth chapter is an explanation of the vision in 
the eighth, because at the close of this vision 
Daniel confessed that he did not understand, and 
the angel was under command to make him under- 
stand it. Then if the eighth chapter is all we have 
to guide us in the interpretation, it is useless for any 
one to attempt the solution of the problem. We 
could not understand it any better than Daniel did, 
and it may as well have been omitted. We cannot 
think God would thus trifle with Daniel and all the 
world through him. 

It was the intention of the holy oracle that some 
time the seal should be broken, and the world know 
the full import of that important message that the 
angel called the attention of the prophet to the sec- 



38 &0D *S MESSENGERS. 

ond time lest he should forget it, by saying, " And 
the vision of the evening and the morning which 
was told is true, wherefore shut up the vision, for it 
shall be for many days." Therefore we infer that 
the angel did make him understand in a subsequent 
vision, and the vision in the ninth chapter is the 
next on record, which must contain the needed in- 
struction. So that the twenty-three hundred days 
rests on the same foundation as the seventy weeks. 
If the sanctuary was to be cleansed in 1844 it is 
important to inquire what is symbolized bv the 
sanctuary. 



>•«?! 



WHAT 18 MEANT BY THE SANCTUARY. 39 



CHAPTER V. 

WHAT IS MEANT BY THE SANCTUARY. 

William Miller and his associates thought the 
earth was the sanctuary, and that it would be 
cleansed by the fires of the last day. Time has 
demonstrated this theory to be incorrect, for half a 
century has passed and no material change has 
taken place in the physical world. 

The question is still asked : What did the angel 
mean by the sanctuary which was to be cleansed in 
the last days ? The only other theory that has been 
largely promulgated in the world is that held by 
the Seventh-day Adventists. We can only give 
their theory a brief review. 

As near as we can understand it, they believe 
that there is in heaven a literal tabernacle, after 
which the one set up in the wilderness was a model. 
As this tabernacle contained two rooms or apart- 
ments, a discussion prevailed in the early church for 
a long time whether the one in heaven likewise con- 
tained two rooms. But the sentiment prevailed 
that there were two. In the outer court the priest 
stood to offer sacrifice for the sins of the people, and 
in the inner apartment, or the holy of holies, called 
the sanctuary, the priest entered once a year to 
cleanse the sanctuary, by the symbol of the scape- 
goat, which was to be sent out into the wilderness. 



40 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

So they believe that Jesus stands in the outer court 
of the tabernacle above as our great high-priest to 
make atonement for sin. 

But when the day of judgment began, which they 
call the investigative judgment, Christ passed from 
the outer to the inner court or sanctuary to cleanse 
it, and put the sins of the people on the scapegoat, 
the devil, as the priests put the sins on the goat in 
the earthly sanctuary. This work began, according 
to their theory, in 1844. An animated controversy 
arose in the early church as to whether the door of 
mercy was shut when Christ entered the sanctuary, 
but it was finally decided that the door was still 
open, and would be until all had an opportunity to 
hear the message they were proclaiming. Then if 
they still refused to hear their message, and accept 
Christ in his new official relation, the door would be 
shut. 

And now Christ is passing judgment on mankind, 
and cleansing the sanctuary. They think this proc- 
ess has been going on for half a century, and when 
the work of cleansing the sanctuary is finished, and 
the investigative judgment comes down to the pre- 
sent generation, then the end will come. Which 
event they say will be in this generation ; but they 
have been saying this for half a century. We quote 
from a book called " The Sanctuary," written by Prof. 
Uriah Smith, and published by the Advent Publish- 
ing Company, at Battle Creek, in Michigan, which 
is accepted as a standard work by that church. 

"Therefore we are held inevitably to the conclusion 
that at the end of the twenty-three hundred days 
in the autumn of 1844 the ministration of the sane- 



WBAT IS MEANT BY THE SANCTUARY, 41 

tuary above was changed from the holy to the most 
holy place. Then the temple of God was opened in 
heaven and there was seen in the temple the ark of 
the testament, Eev. xi. 19. Then the Ancient of 
Days did sit, as the prophet Daniel saw, Dan. vii. 9. 
Then, escorted by a retinue of holy angels, Christ, 
our priest and mediator for man, Dan. vii. 13, 14, 
opened the solemn judgment, scene of verses 9 
and 10 of Dan. vii. Then the seventh angel 
sounded, and the work of finishing the mystery of 
God began, Eev. x. 7. These are the sublime 
events involved in the cleansing of the sanctuary 
which then commenced. In the scene now pre- 
sented before us, we behold the climax of the 
grandeur, glory, and sublimity that center in this 
great subject. And already for nearly thirty-three 
years this work has been going forward. "We un- 
derstand, beginning with the human race at the 
opening of the world's history, the examination 
passes down through succeeding generations in con- 
secutive order, till at length the cases of the last 
generation, the living, are reached, who come last 
into the investigative judgment and the work closes. 
And what generation has the work now reached ? 
Has it come down to the age of Noah ? of Abraham ? 
Has it come down to Job ? of Moses ? of Daniel ? 
Has it reached the age of the apostles and the early 
Christians ? Are their cases now in review before 
the great tribunal above? Has it comedown to 
the setting up of papacy, to the dark ages, when 
the Waldenses and other few faithful witnesses in 
obscurity and concealment kept the light of God's 
truth alive in the world ? Has it come down to the 



4$ GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

great reformation in the time of Luther ? of the 
Wesleys ? We know not. "We know only that it is 
passing down somewhere through these generations, 
and rapidly approaching the time when our des- 
tiny will be decided forever. And here we now 
stand waiting — may we not also say preparing ? — 
but with considerations of such thrilling interest even 
as our view of this subject does not end. We go 
forward a little in the future, and behold the sins of 
all the righteous loaded upon the head of the an typ- 
ical scapegoat to be put away forever. We see 
Satan bound and the saints free forever from his 
power." 

This theory is so manifestly at variance with 
scripture representations of the attributes of God 
that we shall take but little time in noticing it. If 
we are to take all the imagery of the Bible literally, 
then some of these passages quoted in support of 
this theory would have some weight, but the Bible 
is full of figures which cannot be literally inter- 
preted, but only intended to illustrate some impor- 
tant truth. In the description of heaven, the golden 
streets and jasper walls are probably only figures 
to illustrate the glory and grandeur of the home of 
the righteous, and the lake of fire and the worm 
that never dies are figures to portray the misery of 
the final abode of the wicked. 

One thing is worthy of note — that is, that all the 
other scenes in these prophetic visions have their 
fulfilment on earth. The seven weeks or forty- 
nine years bring us to the time when the building of 
the city was completed. The sixty-nine weeks or four 
hundred and eighty-three years extend to the appear- 



WHAT IS MEANT BY THE SANCTUARY. 43 

ing of the Messiah. They are all fulfiled on earth. 
They were given for man and not for angels, and 
were fulfilled where man could witness them. But 
the prophecy of the twenty-three hundred days, 
which was also given for man and not for the 
benefit of angels, Mr. Smith takes away from 
earth and locates in heaven, away beyond the 
sight or knowledge of man, where no mortal eye 
can witness it. Eeason revolts at such an inter- 
pretation. "We are to look to history to see the ful- 
filment of prophecy, and not to the Bible. Mr. 
Smith says the interpretation of the sanctuary is 
purely a Bible question, and tells how many times 
sanctuary is used, and what it means. While he 
acknowledges all the other language in these proph- 
ecies is symbolical, he insists on making the 
sanctuary literal. In the quotations we made from 
his book, the investigative judgment has been going 
on for half a century and may continue a hundred 
years longer. Then God has been half a century 
finding out who are entitled to eternal life, for 
investigative means finding out. This is such a 
gross representation of Deity that we wonder how 
any one can accept it. How different from this is 
the language of Paul, " We shall be changed in a 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye !" 

If neither of the two theories is reasonable, the 
question comes to us, What does the sanctuary sym- 
bolize ? The primitive signification of the term sanc- 
tuary is " a holy place." There may be no place on 
earth that can literally be called a holy place. While 
we may not find literally a holy place on earth, what 
is there that bears the strongest analogy to the 



44 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

sanctuary % What, then, is meant by the sanc- 
tuary? We answer, the Christian Church. The 
sanctuary was the place where God held com- 
munication with man. It was the place where man 
could approach his Maker. So the church is his 
chosen instrumentality to make known his blessings 
to the world, where he is wont to meet his people 
with the blessings of his salvation. Here Chris- 
tians meet to worship, and he has said, " Where 
two or three are met together in my name, there 
am I in the midst of them." They here receive his 
especial blessings. Then we believe the analogy is 
good, and the evidence strong for the belief that the 
sanctuary spoken of by the angel symbolizes the 
Christian Church. It is thus used in Ps. cxiv. 2, 
" Judah was my sanctuary." Daniel called Jerusa- 
lem the holy mountain because the temple service 
was held there. The term sanctuary is often used 
now to denote the place of worship, and we some- 
times use the term church interchangeably to mean 
the place of worship, and the organized body of 
Christians who meet there for worship, so in this 
prophecy the sanctuary means the church or the 
organized body of Christians. This Christian 
Church embraces all who acknowledge Christ as 
the corner-stone of the church, for Christ said, " On 
this rock will I build my church." Then we be- 
lieve the Christian Church is to be cleansed in ful- 
filment of this long line of the prophecy of Daniel. 



CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY. 45 



CHAPTER VI. 

WHAT IS MEANT BY CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY. 

We have shown in the last chapter that the Chris- 
tian Church was the sanctuary referred to in the 
prophecy of Daniel, which was to be cleansed at the 
end of the twenty-three hundred days. We will now 
inquire what there is in the church that most needs 
cleansing. We could mention many things where the 
church fails to exhibit to the world the power and 
beauty of the Christian religion. We find worldly 
mindedness and conformity to the world in the 
church ; a desire for display in costly houses of 
worship ; a want of liberality to benevolent insti- 
tutions. And sometimes we find unworthy mem- 
bers who disgrace the Christian religion in their 
unfair dealings with the world. We sometimes 
find church-members who favor the open saloon. 
We could make a long list of charges of things that 
need to be reformed. But these things are only de- 
fects of unworthy members of the church, and can- 
not be charged against the church as an organized 
body. The constitution of the church forbids such 
things. There is no whisky church, constitution- 
ally so. They all advocate temperance in their rules 
and laws. Then these defects cannot be the great 
evil from which it is to be cleansed. It must be 
something incorporated in the constitution of the 



46 GOD *S MESSENGERS. 

organized body — something that is a part of the 
church. Then what is the great evil which is inter- 
woven into the very warp and woof of the church, 
and is seen and felt in all its working, doing more 
to hinder the progress of the gospel than all other 
evils combined ? We answer, sectarianism. Every 
denomination in the world, with a few exceptions, 
has this characteristic. By sectarianism we mean 
the dividing lines in the churches that separate one 
body of Christians from another. It is as univer- 
sal as the Christian religion. The rivalry, emula- 
tion, and strife among the different denominations 
amounts to a real warfare. In view of these things 
it is no wonder that the angel, inspired by prophetic 
vision from the holy spirit as he looked down the 
many centuries of time and surveyed the Christian 
world as it exists to-day, should tell Daniel, " Unto 
twenty-three hundred days, then the sanctuary 
shall be cleansed." This evil is fostered more largely 
by the ministers and officers of the church than by 
the laity. 

At the Methodist annual conference of Arkansas a 
representative of the press said in an address to the 
ministers present, " What are you here for ? I sup- 
pose you will say to make Christians ; yes, but you 
are here to make Methodists." We have seen that 
sentiment acted out too often, but have never before 
heard such a bald-headed declaration made in a 
church conference. 

If a member of certain churches should sing in 
public worship : 

" Jesus, lover of my soul, 
Let me to thy bosom fly," 



CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY. 47 

he would be turned out of the church, not because 
there is anything unchristian in singing such songs, 
but because it is against the rules of the church. 
That song cannot be found in the psalms of David, 
and we do not permit any other to be sung in wor- 
ship. If you apply to a Baptist church for admis- 
sion, and do not believe that immersion is the 
scriptural mode of baptism, you will be rejected ; 
they will say : " We cannot receive you ; if there is no 
other church near, or one you can conscientiously join 
fellowship, you will have to live without the church 
and get to heaven the best way you can. "We can't 
break the rules of our church even if it results in 
the loss of your soul." Not because it is unscriptural 
to be baptized in any other way, for the Bible lays 
down no mode of baptism. No precept can be 
found in all the Bible to that end. But as a church 
they have drawn the inference from reading sacred 
history that immersion is the proper mode, and will 
admit no other ; but others draw a different inference, 
and which is right ? 

The different denominations all profess to be 
fighting under the same banner of the Prince of 
peace, and all have the one end in view, namely, that 
of bringing the world to Christ. But they waste 
half their ammunition in fighting with each other. 
Sectarianism does not express exactly the meaning 
we intend, but we use it for want of a better word 
that can be easily understood. The Christian 
should be a sectarian in the sense of being a zealous 
advocate of the Christian sect, in distinction from 
the sect of skeptics and infidels. 

We do not call a man a sectarian because he is a 



48 GOD *S MESSENGERS. 

zealous advocate of his church, but because he advo- 
cates a sectarian church. What we mean by a 
sectarian church is one that has in its organic rules 
the elements of a division of the Christian family. 
We do not find fault with a church because it is a 
denomination. There cannot be a church without 
its being a denomination. Every church must have 
a name by which it is identified, that is its name 
or denomination. 

In apostolic times the church was simply called 
the church; that sufficiently distinguished them 
from the Jewish assemblies, and they were further 
identified by the name of the place where they were 
located, therefore the church of Corinth was the de- 
nomination of that church. There may be many 
Christian churches in the same place, therefore they 
must have a name to identify them, and this is the 
name or denomination of that church. There is no 
harm in being a denomination, but the harm is in 
being a sectarian denomination. 

Every church except a few local union churches 
have some rules or doctrines in their creed, either 
written or enforced by practice, to exclude from 
membership some who give evidence of being Chris- 
tians. And no church can exclude such from its 
fellowship without incurring the judgment Christ 
pronounced upon him who offends one ofthese little 
ones. 

Divisions began in the church in the days of the 
Apostles. The church at Corinth became divided, 
and for this Paul charged them with being carnal. 
The Corinthian brethren surely had as much reason 
for following Paul, or Apollos, or Cephus as we have 



CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY. 49 

for following Calvin, or Luther, or Wesley. The 
charge of carnality rests with equal force upon all 
the sectarian churches as it did on the church of 
Corinth. Christ prayed that his people might be 
one. "Will that prayer never be answered? We 
think it will. The reason given is that the world 
might know that He was the Messiah, the sent of 
God. 

The difficulties in the way of Christian union to 
some seem insurmountable, but when the hand of 
God is seen in the movement these difficulties will 
vanish like a frail structure before a mighty current. 
Some ministers urge a spirit of union and friend- 
ship among the different denominations as a remedy 
for this evil. This is certainly commendable, but 
this will never heal the evil. As long as sect inter- 
ests clash, this evil spirit will continue. It must be 
so from the very nature of the case. We must 
eradicate the source of this evil, which like a great 
cancer is eating out the vitality of the church. 

This sectarian spirit is a great obstacle to revivals. 
Christians sometimes seem to be united in revival 
efforts. They seem at the time to be engrossed in 
the important subject of bringing souls into the 
kingdom, but after the revival is over, and the 
work of receiving the converts into the churches 
they take it all back. The world can hardly com- 
prehend a disinterested action. Hence, they are on 
the lookout for some selfish motive for the efforts 
and labors of Christians in revivals. They say all 
they want is to add to their church, and build a 
fine house that will eclipse the other churches, and 
help to support their pastor. They adopt Kapo- 



50 GOD *S MESSENGERS. 

leon's motto: "Every man has his price." Satan 
replied to the Lord, "Doth Job fear God for 
naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about him, 
and about his house, and about all that he hath on 
every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his 
hands, and his substance is increased in the land." 

We were once engaged in a revival when all the 
churches in the place seemed to be united ; and the 
greatest revival that was ever in the town seemed 
to be near at hand. The scoffers were silenced, 
they could see no selfish motive for the zeal and 
sacrifice Christians were making. But in the midst 
of the revival one of the pastors opened the doors 
of his church, and urged all the converts to join his 
church. When the scoffers said, " I told you so — all 
they want is to build up their own church ; they 
care nothing about the salvation of men." The 
evangelist with tears in his eyes announced that 
his work here was done. The reason Christ pre- 
sented for the union of His people was that the 
world might believe. If we preach the gospel of 
peace and good will to men, we must act in har- 
mony with our teaching, or the world will not 
believe the gospel. It will not suffice to say we 
are united in the same great end, the conversion of 
the world. The potent fact still remains we are 
divided — divided in name, in organization and in 
creed, and wasting the Lord's money in sustaining 
so many supernumerary churches. 

Let us look for illustration of this wicked waste 
of means to some of the small towns in the West. 
In a town in Iowa, containing about one thousand 
inhabitants, they have six churches, viz: Baptist, 



CLEANSING TEE SANCTUARY. 51 

Methodist, United Presbyterian, Congregationalist, 
Adventist and Disciples. All have comfortable 
houses of worship. They all preach substantially 
the same doctrine of salvation through Christ, and 
there is a good degree of fraternity existing between 
them. They sometimes hold union prayer-meetings, 
and unite in revival efforts. There is nothing that 
divides them except the mode of baptism and some 
speculative theology. The churches are all poor. 
The Methodists have regular services, the United 
Presbyterians have preaching half the time, and 
others occasionally, and three pulpits vacant. If all 
these churches would sustain a minister at a salary 
of $600 a year, it would cost $3,600 a year. One 
large church would hold all that usually attend 
worship. Thus, if they were united in one church, 
it would save $3,000 a year in that little town, and 
the people would have better religious privileges. 
And when we consider that there are hundreds of 
towns similarly situated in the West and in the 
East, the waste of means becomes enormous. And 
this is not all : such a union would save the labor of 
five ministers, who could labor in destitute places 
or in the foreign fields. Thus, there is a waste of 
the Lord's money, a waste of ministerial labor, 
and a waste of religious influence. 

It has been estimated that there is a waste of 
two million dollars annually, and the time of three 
or four thousand ministers in our own country, and 
probably as much in England. With such an 
additional force in our foreign missionary and 
home work, the world could soon be converted to 
Christ. This work of unifying the churches is no 



52 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

fancy picture. It has been done in some places, 
and can be done in others if the people have a 
mind to the work. And what peace and harmony 
it would bring, and such revivals would sweep over 
the land, as the world has never seen ! 

Then look at the expense of sustaining so many 
boards of benevolent institutions, especially the 
missionary organizations. A large per cent, of the 
funds collected goes to run the machinery of these 
institutions. We do not think the officers are 
overpaid, but they must all have a living, and this 
comes out of the missionary funds. If they were 
all united it would take but little more than it does 
to run one of these sectarian institutions. This 
would not only reduce the expense, but it would 
relieve a large number of ministers to labor in 
other fields, for which they are so eminently fitted. 

It is urged as an objection to this union, because 
all the churches have their missionary institutions 
established and could not change them. But they 
could soon be reorganized, and some of them need 
this very much. They have gone off on side issues, 
and have united medical with Christian missions. 
This brings in the elements of discord, as there are 
so many different schools of medicine. But all 
Christians, of whatever name, believe in sending 
the gospel to the heathen. But some say, there is 
a necessity for the different churches because all do 
not believe alike. We do not reason thus in worldly 
matters. There is a wide difference in minor 
details of work in all branches of trade, in farming 
and in mechanics. They differ in many things, 
but it is not thought necessary for this reason to 



CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY . 53 

divide them into classes as long as they all agree in 
fundamental principles. If we should carry out 
this classification in the churches to its fullest 
extent, we suppose there would be but one in each 
church, for it is hard to find two persons who 
believe exactly alike in all things. 

But there is a common ground on which all 
evangelical Christians can and do stand together. 
The essential doctrines of the gospel now held by 
all evangelical Christians are substantially the 
same, and they have been held by the churches for 
nearly nineteen hundred years, and doubtless will 
be to the end of time. On minor doctrines, not 
plainly revealed in Bible which do not affect moral 
character, there will probably always be a difference 
of opinion, and it is not necessary that it should be 
otherwise. 

The army illustration is often used to defend a 
divided church, but there is no analogy whatever. 
They say we are all fighting for the same end 
under the same great captain, Jesus Christ, and the 
different churches are like the different regiments 
in the army. On the battlefield it is necessary to 
have different companies under different captains 
for better discipline and for more effective work. 
So they say in the Christian work by the different 
churches, they can do more effective service than 
they could if all were in one church. This illustra- 
tion holds good in reference to churches of the 
same denomination in different localities. They 
are all equipped and maintained from the same 
source, and two churches will not be organized 
where but one is needed. But the illustration does 



54 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

not hold good in regard to the different denomina- 
tions. In order to make the analogy good, the 
regiments in the army should all have a different 
uniform and equipment. They must all be made 
expressly for them, no matter what it costs the 
government ; they must not come from the general 
storehouse. And no other officer must have any 
control over them whatever, and they must have 
the privilege once in a while of pointing their guns 
to the other regiments and giving them a round or 
two just to present their supremacy. 

The evils of sectarianism in mission work is 
strongly set forth by Eev. William Clark, in a 
letter to the Church Union, dated J anuary 9, 1886, 
headed " Sectarianism and Mission Work in Italy," 
and the same spirit is manifested in foreign fields 
at the present day. Mr. Clark says : 

" In 1868 I wrote from Milan after a five-years' 
residence in Italy as follows : In the present Italian 
churches there is nothing to prevent the co-operation 
of all who desire to evangelize this country, whether 
Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregation- 
alists, and Episcopalians, but can aid these churches 
and co-operate together in the evangelization of 
Italy. But for any one of these bodies to bring in 
its own ecclesiastical systems, there would be not 
only a failure, but confusion, rivalry, and sectarian 
quarrels, and the work of reform would lose its 
power, and be dishonored in the eyes of the Italian 
people. Having rejected the papacy and all its 
forms, and possessed with a desire and determina- 
tion to go back to the New Testament Church, 
they wish now to be left free to know the truth of 



CLEANSING TEE SANCTUARY. 55 

God. They resolved to shun dogmas of whatever 
church. They wish to know the gospel, and be 
called an evangelical Italian church, and not Wal- 
densian or Wesleyan, or Presbyterian, or Baptist, 
or Congregational. They wish no denominational 
name. 

" This I wrote eighteen years ago, and at that 
time there was no more promising mission field in 
the world than Italy. In 1871 was the meeting of 
the Third Assembly of the Free Italian Church ; I 
had at that time sustained a theological school at 
Milan for some years, with twenty students and 
five professors, and during three years two hundred 
Italian young men had applied for admission to 
the school. In this assembly in 1871 twenty-two 
evangelists and preachers were connected with the 
Milan school. In an article in your paper recently 
1 said : In Italy we have the striking example 
how, by multiplication of Christian sects, Christian 
enterprise is enfeebled and paralyzed. It is here 
clearly seen how sectarianism is earthly and con- 
temptible as papacy, and criminal in principle. 
The Milan School was closed by sectarian pressure. 
Mission committees of different denominations in 
America and England sent their agents into Italy 
to force upon the Italians their denominational 
names. The wishes and protestations of the Italian 
churches were disregarded, and poor as were the 
members in the first years of the Italian reform, in 
order to receive aid from Protestants of other 
lands they were required to subscribe to denomina- 
tional creeds, and in some instances they were even 
threatened with the withdrawal of their evangelists 



56 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

and teachers, unless they adopted the tenets of the 
sect that supported them. Thus was strife and 
rivalry in these sects that came to prey upon the 
poor Italian churches, and no effort was spared on 
the part of each sect to fish out as many as possible 
from the originally prosperous and large Italian 
churches. Thus the churches, abandoned by every 
mission agency and church in the world with one 
exception, because it would not be sectarian, has 
been preyed upon by sects, and kept lean and poor 
for the last fifteen years ; for what says the last 
report of its last assembly in 1885 ? ' Only three 
more churches than in 1871.' Had sectarianism 
never visited Italy, or had mission committees 
of different denominations in America and England 
been willing to drop the sect, and aid the Evan- 
gelical Italian Church, I most firmly believe that 
to-day there would be at least two hundred flour- 
ishing and self-sustaining churches. Such are the 
fruits of sectarianism in mission work in Italy. 

* William Clark." 

"Florence, Italy, Jan. 9, 1886. 
" I ought to make an exception in regard to the 
Presbyterians of Scotland, who, like the Good 
Samaritan to the one who fell among thieves, they 
came to the Italian church that had fallen among 
foreign sects of strange denominations, like the 
man among thieves. They came to this church, 
and have shown it great kindness, binding up 
many of its wounds, and keeping it from actual 
starvation. But this church, though small and thus 
severely tried in these past years, has still the wonder- 



CLEANSING THE SANCTUARY. 57 

ful vigor and spiritual life of former years, and is 
doing a most noble work. 

" William Clark." 

We might fill volumes on the evil working of 
this sectarian spirit, but no doubt the reader can fill 
up the details from his own memory. So strong is 
this spirit implanted in the churches by educational 
bias that no earthly arm can break it. To do this 
we think was the object of the prediction of the 
angel in regard to cleansing the sanctuary. There 
is vital energy enough in the Christian religion, and 
the noble band of Christian soldiers, to reform this 
evil. And we think the hand of God will soon be 
revealed in this work as it has not been in the past. 
We have many valiant soldiers of the cross who are 
ready to fall into line when they hear the Divine 
command. 

We think the Christian world is ready for this 
movement. D'Aubigne, that eminent Christian 
writer, and his associates made an effort for Christian 
union half a century ago, and when they became 
disheartened and were obliged to give up the work, 
said, " the time has not yet come, but it will come 
in this century." 

We may be living in that favored time he so 
ardently looked for. Great advance toward unity 
has been made in the last decade. Christians begin 
to see the necessity for union to meet the evil ten- 
dency in the world toward skepticism and infidelity. 



58 OOD >8 MESSENGERS. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

DATE OF THE CLEASING. 

We have considered in the last chapter what is 
meant by cleansing the sanctuary, which we con- 
sidered to be eradicating sectarianism from the 
Christian Church, which is the greatest hinderance 
to its progress in the world. We must now consider 
the date of this cleansing. Half a century has 
passed since the termination of the prophetic period, 
and sectarianism is still rife in the churches to day. 
The movement for union has been slow, as is the 
beginning of all great reforms. 

Sectarianism is so interwoven into the very warp 
and woof of the Christian churches and institu- 
tions that the reform must necessarily be slow in 
its infancy. But in looking back fifty years we can 
see much to encourage us. While there has not 
been much practical work done as yet, by the 
agitation of the subject we have become convinced 
of its necessity and of its practicability. Many 
things in regard to the work have been established, 
and there is no longer needed any more theory. 

Let us look back fifty years and see if we can 
ascertain the time when this cleansing process 
began. Prophecy does not always take notice of 
events when they are in a full state of development. 



DATE OF THE CLEANSING. 59 

The prophecy of Daniel that " From the going 
forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem unto 
the Messiah shall be seven weeks," and threescore 
and two weeks does not reach the time when Christ 
was working his miracles, and the joyful crowd was 
crying " Hosannah to the son of David," but to the 
time when he was little known in the world at the 
beginning of His ministry. 

Then we may look for this cleansing to be noticed, 
not when it has great power in the world, but when 
it first appeared to manifest itself notably in public 
in an organic capacity. We have no faith in any- 
thing short of an organic union. There is one fun- 
damental principle of Christian union without which 
it cannot exist. That is the doctrinal basis of union 
in essentials only, and liberty in non-essentials. 

The different branches of the Presbyterian church 
might unite and still be Presbyterians. The 
Methodist divisions might unite and still be Metho- 
dists, but no general union can be effected in this 
way. When did this union movement first appear 
in the world in an organic form ? Doubtless the 
idea of union has existed in the minds of Christians 
for centuries, but it was never developed as an 
organized force in the world. 

In 1837 a young man by the name of George 
Williams appeared in Bridgewater, England. He 
was converted at the age of sixteen, and was so full 
of the Holy Ghost, and so devoted to the advance- 
ment of the Redeemer's Kingdom, that God chose 
him as His messenger to accomplish a great work 
for Christian union in fulfilment of this long line of 
prophecy. He soon became anxious that all his 



60 GOD y S MESSENGERS. 

associates should partake of the joy and happiness 
which he possessed. His labors were signally 
blessed in the conversion of his associates. 

In 1841 this young man went to London and en- 
gaged as a clerk in a dry goods establishment. He 
found eight young men, among whom there was but 
little religious feeling, the majority of them being 
indifferent to religion, and some very profligate. 
Here a great zeal for Christ characterized his 
efforts. He found among his fellow clerks a few 
professed followers of Christ. They gathered for 
prayer and Bible study in his bedroom. As a re- 
sult of his faithful work among his comrades many 
were converted, and soon the bedroom became too 
small for the meetings. 

One day, Mr. Williams, in company with Edward 
Beaumont, a convert in the little bedroom, on their 
way to Surry Chapel, suggested the organization of 
the Young Men's Christian Association, making it 
non-sectarian, to include Christians from all evan- 
gelical denominations, a union on the essential 
doctrines of the gospel. Here we think we have the 
first notable effort for organic union in Christian 
work on the true basis of Christian union. When 
was the organization made which laid the foundation 
for a union of all believers in Christ ? 

It was in 1844, just the year that the angel had 
foretold to Daniel two thousand and three hundred 
years before, that in that year the sanctuary should 
be cleansed. 

This society has been blessed of God as perhaps 
no other society has. This association now owns 
property in this country to the amount of four 



DATE OF TEE CLEANSING 61 

millions or more. It has perhaps done more for 
union among the different denominations than all 
other agencies combined. It has demonstrated be- 
yond refutation the practicability of union in Chris- 
tian work. 

Mr. D. L. Moody says : " The Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association has under God done more in devel- 
oping me for Christian work than any other 
agency:" God has watched over this society and 
kept it free from sectarian bias. Similar associa- 
tions were formed in the sixteenth century in Ger- 
many, France, England, and elsewhere, but they did 
not long survive, as they lacked the grand principle 
of union which characterized the Young Men's 
Christian Association. 

The next step in this reform in England was the 
organization of the Evangelical Alliance. This 
movement began about the time of D'Aubigne's 
campaign for union in 1843 and 1844, but tihe society 
was not organized until 1846. This society has the 
same doctrinal basis as the Young Men's Christian 
Association. In 1844 D'Aubigne made his great 
speech on Christian union before a meeting of Swiss 
ministers at St. Gall ; 1844 was a great epoch of 
awakening on the subject of Christian union. In 
order to show the great earnestness of this godly 
man let us make an extract from his preface to the 
American Tract Society's edition of the " History of 
the Keformation." He says, " The sixteenth century 
was an epoch of a great separation, the nineteenth 
must be one of a great union. If external unity is 
not a unity of organization what then is it ? It can- 
not be denied, Christian union has become a great 



62 GOD *S MESSENGERS. 

fact at the present day. In some countries this 
cause is more advanced than in others, but every- 
where it exists, it advances, and will still advance. 
For myself I have not ceased for several years to 
appear everywhere the advocate of Christian union 
in conjunction with my friend, and colleague, Dr. 
Gaw, Sr. I so announced myself in the numerous 
meetings which were held in Genoa in 1838 and 
1839, and also in 1845 this thought was one on 
which I chiefly dwelt in addresses delivered by me 
in England and in Scotland. In Germany, at Stutt- 
gart, October, 1845, after suggesting a motion on 
this subject in the general meeting of the Gustavus 
Adolphus Society, where there were delegates from 
all Protestant countries in Europe, I believed it 
my duty to insist on the true nature of union. 

" I look then with lively interest upon every insti- 
tution which can contribute to the realization of this 
thought, and in this respect I must express my entire 
sympathy with the American Tract Society, which 
includes Christians of various denominations — Bap- 
tists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episco- 
palians, and others strictly united in the truth nec- 
essary to salvation, and differing only on minor 
points. If Christians should unite with other 
Christians in the same city, the cities would soon 
unite with other cities in the same country, and the 
countries with other countries in the same world 
which God has honored and rescued from rebellion 
and death by the sacrifice on the cross, and soon the 
earth would be filled with the knowledge of the 
Lord. For a long time the necessity of an evan- 
gelical union has been felt. There have been at- 



DATE OF THE CLEANSING. 63 

tempts at ecclesiastical union, as at Charenton in 
1631, at Thorn in 1608, at Cessel in 1661, in Persia 
during the eighteenth century, and in 1817. All 
these attempts indicate a need, but without ability 
to supply it, because the time appointed by God was 
not yet come." 

From these quotations we can see the zeal of 
D'Aubigne for Christian union, but the time, as he 
thought, had not yet come. But we think the signs 
of the times indicate that the time has now come 
for the great epoch of union. Public sentiment is 
turning in favor of union. 

If we turn to America we can see that this date 
was the epoch of a great revival of the union work. 
There is in Missouri a faithful band of Christians 
engaged in earnest union work, called " Churches of 
Christ in Christian Union." They have three or 
four hundred churches in that State, as well as many 
in adjoining States, and in Ohio. They began their 
work in 1813, but held their first State council in 
1844. So we see that this date was the beginning 
of the union work in an organized capacity, both in 
England and in America. 

The American Sunday-School Union has done 
much to advance the union work, and there is a 
great future of usefulness before that society. When 
the union churches multiply, and establish union 
Sabbath-schools, they will need no other publishing 
house for their Sunday-school literature. This 
society was organized a few years before the Young 
Men's Christian Association, but it had not developed 
much power until this time. "We might also men- 



64 GOD *8 MESSENGERS. 

tion the American Tract Society, which is a power- 
ful factor in the union work. 

Among the agencies which have produced the 
change in sentiment in favor of union we must not 
forget the paper called the Church Union, which 
has been published a little less than twenty years. 
Although it is only theoretical it has done much to 
awaken Christians to a sense of the evils of a 
divided church. The conservative course which that 
paper took was perhaps the best at that time, as the 
people were not ready for anything more radical. 
The necessity for organic union is deeply felt in the 
Christian church, and they are looking to find the 
path that leads to it. 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 65 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 

In the beginning of every great reform there is 
in the minds of some people a disposition to fly to 
the opposite extremes, when they become aroused to 
the magnitude of the evil to be reformed. In the 
temperance reform in its infancy some became so 
enthusiastic in the cause that they even chopped 
down their apple trees because intoxicating cider 
was made from apples. Thus some people have be- 
come so tired of so much priestcraft and ecclesias- 
tical machinery, that they have come out against 
all church organizations and creeds, either human 
or divine. But this is not wise or scriptural, for 
the Apostles had organized churches. Matthew 
gives us the course to be pursued in church discipline. 
This could not have been done without an organized 
church. 

How often the Apostles speak of having our 
names written in heaven. This figure was probably 
suggested by Christians having their names written 
in the church books. So they were exhorted to 
have their names also written in the Lamb's book 
of life. 

A writer in the Church Union says : " Three- 
fourths of the Christians believe that men can no 



66 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

more organize a new church than they can create a 
new world." If he means by this broad assertion 
that no one can organize a Christian church on a 
new foundation, then we agree with him, for Paul 
says : " For other foundation can no man lay than 
that which is laid in Jesus Christ." But the organi- 
zation of a church is man's work. God never organ- 
ized a church, and if man had not done it there 
would be no churches to-day. 

Christian union is not a new work ; it has been a 
long time forming, and we believe the time has come 
for its development. Germany was ready for the 
Reformation when Luther and his co-laborers began 
their work. The Reformation doubtless would have 
gone on if Luther had never been born. When 
there is a necessity for some work God can always 
find the right men and means to do it. The Refor- 
mation had been progressing for centuries, and men 
had been burned at the stake for its defense. The 
labors of Wycliffe in England, of Huss in Bohemia, 
of Savonarola in Italy, Wissel and a host of others 
in Germany, had brought the public mind to a 
point where only a practical beginning was needed 
to precipitate a great religious crisis. They only 
needed a leader, and God found that leader in the 
brave and dauntless Luther. 

D'Aubigne says of this work : " All was ready. 
God, who prepares his work through ages, accom- 
plishes it by the weakest instrumentality, when His 
time has come. To effect great results by the 
smallest means — such is the law of God. This law, 
which prevails everywhere in nature, is found also in 
history. God selected the reformers of His church 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 67 

from the same class whence He had the Apostles. 
He chose them from among that lower rank, which 
although not the meanest, does not reach the level 
of the middle class. Everything was thus intended 
to manifest to the world that the work was not of 
man but of God." 

Any one who has read the Christian literature of 
the day cannot fail to see the great change that has 
taken place in favor of Christian union in the last 
half -century, and more especially in the last twenty 
years. D'Aubigne, after his failure to accomplish 
Christian union in 1844, said, " the time has not yet 
come," and doubtless this was in a measure true. 
The time has not now come, and will not probably 
come within a hundred years, in the way that he had 
marked out, and for which he so ardently labored. 
He supposed the work could be done by holding 
conventions, and persuading all the denominations 
to give up their distinctive creeds and come to- 
gether on a union basis. That plan has often been 
tried since his day, and as often failed. From the 
congress of churches held some years ago, and the en- 
thusiasm manifested in the union work, one would 
think the good time was near at hand ; but resolu- 
tions and good talk was all that was accomplished. 
This was the youthful dream of the writer, but he 
has long since abandoned that plan as impractical 
and hopeless. 

Some people are zealous, and ready to do some 
great work for Christianity and the world, but they 
want it to be a great thing. The servant said to 
Kaaman, " My father, if the prophet had bid thee 
do some great thing wouldst thou not have done 



68 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

it ?" Some men having the real welfare of mankind 
at heart are not willing to wait for what they call 
the slow process, but they must do some great thing 
to decide the object at once. John Brown had high 
and worthy motives for the liberation of the slaves. 
Plis zeal and intentions were good, but his judgment 
was wrong, and his impetuosity resulted in a sad 
failure. 

This is not the way reforms generally begin. 
Christianity was nurtured on the shores of Galilee 
by a few illiterate fishermen. The fishermen's craft 
that rocked on the waves of Galilee was the cradle 
of Christianity. The Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation did not come in with the sound of a trumpet. 
It began in a small bedroom in London. The 
originator was not a renowned man with a D.D. or 
LL.D. to his name, but only a clerk in a dry goods 
store. The American Board of Foreign Missions 
was planned under the lee of a friendly haystack, 
whither the little band of students were driven 
for shelter from a storm. The Christian Endeavor 
was organized in the parlor of Dr. Clark, in Willis- 
ton Mission Church, and it has met with phenom- 
enal success. Not because the organization was 
perfect, but because it met a long-felt want in the 
church for something to enlist the young people in 
Christian work. It has been organized about fifteen 
years, and it is now planted in almost every country 
on the globe, and contains more than a million 
members. The constitution of the society is sec- 
tarian. Its members are amenable to the church to 
which it belongs. It was organized by a Congre- 
gational minister, and for a while it was considered 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ft 9 

a Congregational institution. Other churches 
soon organized similar societies, but we believe the 
constitution is the same. A Congregational minister 
in Iowa organized an Endeavor Society in a small 
town, the first that had been in the place. A young 
lady of this church said to the pastor, " I have got 
the consent of some Methodist ladies to come into 
our society ;" but he said, " Eo, that will not do, it 
is a Congregational society." A more liberal spirit 
now prevails, but the society is amenable for its acts 
to the church to which it belongs. They hold 
yearly interdenominational meetings, but this does 
not make them union societies. The denominational 
Sunday-schools hold union meetings, but this does 
not make them union Sunday-schools. The exhor- 
tations given to them in these yearly meetings is 
" be loyal to your church." This sectarian bondage 
deprives them of doing the good they might do if 
they were independent, and not handicapped by 
their churches. Speakers at these meetings feel 
this deeply, and speak of it as far as they dare to do 
so. They have a good time at these meetings and 
get a great deal of enthusiasm for their work, but 
nothing is done of a permanent character. They 
cannot plan for general Christian work and send out 
evangelists as the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tions do, because they are amenable to the different 
churches to which they belong. 

The Christian Endeavor Society is not undenomi- 
national. It cannot be. The cardinal principle of 
every society is loyalty to its own church. There is 
no co-operation, no common work> no bond of 



ft) GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

organic union, and there can be none according to 
the constitution. 

If they were not thus handicapped a wide field of 
usefulness would open up before them, similar to 
that done by the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, and they could be much more efficient in many 
fields of labor than that society, because they have 
the help of the young women, which is no small 
factor in this day. 

"We hope the time is not far off when the Christian 
Endeavor, the Ep worth League, and Young People's 
Societies will unite and be called Young People's 
Christian Union, organized on the same doctrinal 
basis as the Young Men's Christian Association and 
Women's Christian Temperance Union. Then in 
stead of endeavoring to do Christian work they 
would do it, and instead of being in league with 
Ep worth they would be in league with Christ. 

The prejudice of the Jews against the Gentiles 
could not have been overcome by concerted action 
in the synagogues. But God pointed out the way 
as He is now pointing out the way to Christian 
union to overcome sectarian prejudice. But some 
are saying as Peter did, " Not so, Lord, for I have 
never eaten anything common or unclean." Peter 
was directed to a single family who were ready to 
embrace Christianity. And that small beginning, 
which was at first accepted with m&ny fears and 
doubts, was the means in the hand of God in bring- 
ing the Gentiles into the fold. 

There are many who would be willing to work 
for union if they could do it without in any way 
injuring their own denomination, but this they hold 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ?1 

paramount to every other consideration. Quite 
recently a society was organized in New York called 
" Brotherhood of Christian Union.' , But one special 
provision was that it should iu no way interfere 
with the established churches. Such societies may be 
multiplied until the churches are organized to death, 
and no permanent good will be accomplished. 
N othing can cleanse the churches but that which 
will root out the sectarian spirit from the churches. 
We do not advocate church union, for a Christian 
church might unite with one that denied the foun- 
dation of the Christian religion. That would be 
church union, but it would not by any means be 
Christian union. 

In a small town in the "West there were a num- 
ber of families of different denominations. They 
wanted meetings, but none of them were strong 
enough to support a church of their own denomi- 
nation, so they concluded to unite and have a union 
church. They went to work and put up a comfort- 
able house of worship, and employed ministers of any 
denomination they could obtain. It was agreed that 
they should come in as Baptists, and Presbyterians, 
and Methodists, and Congregationalists. There was 
a kind of mechanical union. They all worshipped 
in the same house, heard the same sermons, and sat 
in the same seats. All went on smoothly for a 
while and they thought they had solved the problem 
of Christian union. But after a time jealousies arose. 
The Presbyterians thought they had too much 
Methodist preaching, and the others thought they 
did not get their share, and things went from bad to 



?2 GOD \S MESSENGERS. 

worse until it culminated in the burning of the 
church. 

The less we have of such unions the better. This 
case has been often told by ministers to prove the 
impracticability of Christian union. But the truth is 
there never was a union. It was like putting oil 
and water in the same cup, and when you shake it 
there is a kind of mechanical union, but they will 
soon separate because there is no chemical union. 
But when you add alkali it makes a chemical union, 
and a new substance is formed which we call soap, 
which contains none of the three former ingredients. 
This church was like the oil and water. But when 
you add organic union it is like the alkali to the oil 
and water, and the Methodists, and the Baptists, and 
the Presbyterians, and the Congregationalists are all 
dissolved into a brotherhood of Christian fellowship. 

We have many local union churches which have 
as much prosperity and harmony as the other 
churches, which is sufficient to demonstrate the 
practicability of union churches. It is now out of 
the time of experiment. These local churches have 
filled a local necessity. But they are isolated and 
lose the power of Christian fellowship with other 
churches, which is a great loss. There is a greater 
bond in Christian fellowship than we are wont to 
acknowledge. There is a sacred fire that unites our 
hearts in one. And these churches cannot counsel 
with other churches and plan for effective Christian 
activity in the world. They have a feeling of lone- 
liness ; as one has expressed it, " they belong to no- 
body, and nobody belongs to them." What we 
want is a brotherhood of these union churches, so 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 73 

they can have Christian fellowship, and advise with 
each other, but not to legislate for them. 

We have often asked the question, "What is Chris- 
tian union ? and have received various answers. One 
says it is an undenominational church, but there 
cannot be such a church, for every church must 
have a name by which it is identified, and to dis- 
tinguish it from other Christian Churches, this is its 
name or denomination. Another will tell you it is a 
church that has no creed but the Bible. That sounds 
well enough, but it does not work well in practice. 
For the Universalists and the Unitarians claim to 
take the Bible for their creed. The Bible plainly 
teaches the essential doctrines necessary to salva- 
tion. Then let the union church take these plainly 
revealed doctrines and formulate them into a creec^ 
such as all evangelical churches hold, and nothing 
more. The most important of these, and the one 
that really comprehends the whole, is the recognition 
of Christ as the divine Saviour of the world. 

The definition we give of a union church is this : 
A church founded on Christ, and having no lines to 
divide the Christian family. A church that accepts 
all who give evidence of being Christians. A 
sectarian church is one that has rules to bar from 
fellowship a part of the Christian family who fol- 
low not us. Every church that has this dividing 
line is sectarian, for sectarian means division or 
cutting off. 

Several attempts have been made for organic 
union, but the}^ have made but partial success. All of 
them, so far as our knowledge goes, have some hobby 
to carry. There is quite a large and earnest body 



£4 god >s Messengers. 

of Christians in the Eastern States called National 
Christian Union, but their hobby is faith healing, 
and they have laws which make them sectarian. 
There is a faithful band of Christians largely repre- 
sented in the Western States, and they are making 
commendable progress, but they have rules that 
keep many Christians from the fold because they 
cannot subscribe to their gag laws. 

We claim the United Christian Church to be 
rudimental of the Universal Church in three par- 
ticulars. First its name. We must all be called by 
one name. " At the name of Jesus every knee shall 
bow." This name is not sectarian. And it desig 
nates the nature of the church. It is a Christian 
Church. It also includes the idea of unity for which 
Christ prayed that his people might possess. We 
think no fault can be found with the name. Chris- 
tians have long been praying for the time when 
there would be but one united Christian Church. 
Then let us take this for our name until the millen- 
nium comes, when all Christians will be one ; then we 
can drop the adjective and call it the Christian 
Church. 

Some say it will make another denomination. We 
concede this, for it has another name to distinguish 
it from all other Christian Churches, but it can never 
be a sectarian denomination while it holds the basic 
principles of the constitution, for it has no dividing 
lines that separate a part of the Christian family. 

The names of most of the churches do not indicate 
that they are Christian Churches. Christ named 
His church. He says on this rock (that is Peter's 
confession, " thou art Christ, the son of the living 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 75 

God") I will build My church, and we have no 
right to give it any other name. Church names 
often only indicate the government of the church. 
Thus Episcopal church implies that it is governed 
by an episcopate. The Presbyterian by the pres- 
bytery, the Congregational by the congregation. 
The Lutheran church implies that they are followers 
of Luther. The Wesley an that they are followers 
of Wesley. Baptist implies that the central idea of 
the church is baptism. The church called the New 
Lights has a legal right to the name of the Christian 
Church, because they first obtained a charter under 
that name. But we do. not think any one of the 
many Christian churches has a moral right to that 
name, and they will never generally be called by 
that name outside of their own denomination. If 
one church is called the Christian church it implies, 
if language means anything, that the other churches 
are not Christian churches. If one is seen with a 
parcel on the streets, and he is asked, " Where did 
you buy that V and he says, " I bought it at the 
brick store " — if this man is thought to be an intel- 
ligent and well-posted man, and one who knows how 
to use the English language, it will justly be inferred 
that there is but one brick store in the place. It 
would have been proper for the church in Apostolic 
times to be called the Christian church to distinguish 
it from the Jewish church. 

In the name United Christian church we concede 
that there are other Christian churches, but they 
are sectarian Christian churches. But this is the 
only united Christian church in the world, and we 
look for the day when all the Christian churches 



76 GOB \S MESSENGERS. 

will be one ; then we can drop the term united and 
call it the Christian church in distinction from the 
churches that are not Christian. 

Second, the doctrinal basis. That is a unity on 
essentials only. The creed or articles of faith should 
contain the essential doctrines of the gospel plainly 
revealed in the Bible, and nothing more. These 
doctrines are embodied in the creeds of all the evan- 
gelical churches. They are few in number, and 
plainly stated in the word of God. They form the 
life of the Christian faith, and govern all his actions 
in religion. There are many other doctrines in the 
Bible which are important, and should not be neg- 
lected, for " all scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in right coyness." But 
such doctrines as are not clearly revealed should be 
relegated to private interpretation. On these ques- 
tions perhaps there always will be a difference of 
opinion, and every one should be " fully persuaded 
in his own mind." Some are inclined to sneer at 
the term non-essential. They say there are no non- 
essentials in the Bible. If they use the term as 
synonymous with of no "importance," then we agree. 
But if our salvation depends on the way we in- 
terpret the teachings of the Bible on the mode of 
' baptism, then we can never be assured in regard to 
our salvation until we stand trembling at the golden 
gate, bowed down with dark forebodings of the 
future, and the Judge bids us walk in. A belief in 
doctrines not clearly revealed in the Bible, such as 
the mode of baptism, cannot be essential to our sal- 
vation, as they do not affect Christian conduct. But 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ?? 

he who rejects Christ and his teaching gives plain 
testimony that he is not a Christian, for we cannot 
call a man a Christian who denies the foundation of 
the Christian religion, and such should not be recog- 
nized as a member of a Christian church, for a church 
is a company of believers. There cannot be a church 
without a creed, for a church that does not believe 
anything is not a church, but an agnostic society. 
The creed should be a summary of the vital doctrines 
formulated for convenience to test the faith of the 
candidate for membership. We could not rehearse 
the whole Bible to him for his acceptance, therefore 
the need of a summary of the essentials to ascertain 
whether he is a Christian or an infidel. No one 
should be rejected who gives satisfactory evidence 
of being a Christian. We are fallible and prone to 
make mistakes, but we should use our best judg- 
ment enlightened by divine wisdom. These dividing 
lines in the churches are stumbling blocks over 
which many fall into perdition. 

There is nothing new in this doctrinal basis. It 
was announced many years since, by whom is prob- 
ably not known, in this motto, " In essentials, unity; 
in non-essentials, liberty, and in all things, charity." 
But we reject the latter clause " in all thing charit} 7- ," 
for the subject under consideration is doctrine. The 
Christian is under no obligation to exercise charity 
or love for all kinds of doctrines. There is no pos- 
sible basis on which Christians can unite than on 
essentials only. The third rudiment of the uni- 
versal church is the government of the church. The 
independent government is the only practical form 
for the union church. The Congregationalist and 



78 OOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

Baptist churches have tested this form of govern- 
ment for two hundred years and more, and they 
have maintained as high a standard of purity, order 
and harmony as any other church. Every church 
should make its own laws and regulate the forms of 
worship. The government need not necessarily be 
congregational. They may have ruling elders, 
similar to the home government of the Presbyterian 
church, from whose decision there is no appeal. If 
a majority think they can be more edified by Epis- 
copal ritual, let them adopt it. If they prefer the 
form of the Methodist church, let them adopt that. 
The mode of baptism should be optional with the 
candidate. 

The Bible gives us no form of church government. 
Mosheim says: "Neither Christ himself nor his 
holy Apostles has commanded anything clearly or 
expressly concerning the external forms of the 
church, or the precise method necessary by which it 
should be governed. The church in early times was 
entirely independent, none of them being subject to 
foreign jurisdiction. But each church was governed 
by its own rules and its own laws, for though the 
churches founded by the Apostles have this partic- 
ular deference shown them that they were consulted 
in difficult cases, yet they had no judicial authority 
over them, nor the least right to enact laws for 
them." 

We are often confronted with this objection: it 
would not do for all Christians to belong to one 
church, for they would in time use their concen 
trated power to corrupt the church, as the Catholic 
church did when they had all power in their hands, 



THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 79 

and the result was disastrous to the purity of the 
church. If the union, church had concentrated 
ecclesiastical power this objection would have some 
force. But in an independent government this ob- 
jection is fully met. All the churches combined 
would have no more ecclesiastical power than a single 
church. These three articles we think contain the 
elements of the United Christian Church, which 
will be the universal church. When Christ comes 
He will not then find a divided church. We cannot 
reconcile the scene of a divided church with the 
glory and triumph which will accompany that event. 
His prayer that His people might all be one will be 
answered. Should He come to-day what a scene 
our churches would present in their divided con- 
dition and hostile attitude to each other ! What a 
mockery to the Kingdom of the Prince of Peace, 
with each church vying with each other as to who 
should give Him the most royal welcome ! Some 
would not even allow open doors because they do 
not unite with them at the Lord's table in com- 
munion. Would He not give them a look of sorrow 
as He did to Peter after his denial. 

We do not think the end of the world is so near 
as some imagine, for there is a great work to be 
done before the church will be prepared to appear 
as a bride adorned for her husband. It may take a 
long time to cleanse the churches of this demon of 
division — perhaps a hundred years. The arm of man 
is too weak, but when the " hour of God's judgment 
has come" this Babel of sectarian apostacy will 
fall, and they will stand afar off and cry, " Alas ! 
alas ! that great city, Babylon, that mighty city, for 



SO GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

in one hour is thy judgment come." Half a century- 
has passed since Christian union has taken an organic 
form, and how little has been done for unity. 

Any body of Christians organized into a church 
in harmony with the following constitution will be 
in full fellowship with the United Christian Church : 



Constitution of the United Christian Church. 

Articles of Incorporation Adojrted at Rogers, 
Arkansas, May 1, 1897. 

Art. 1. This church shall be called the United 
Christian Church. 

Art. 2. The creed of this church shall contain 
the essential doctrines of the Gospel plainly revealed 
in the Bible, and nothing more. 

Art. 3. The government of this church shall be 
independent. Each church shall make its own laws, 
but no law shall be made to exclude from member- 
ship any one who gives satisfactory evidence of 
being a Christian. 

Art. 4. Credible evidence of a change of heart, 
and having accepted Christ as the divine Redeemer 
according to the terms of the gospel, shall be the 
only test of membership. 

Art. 5. This church shall hold a district council 
semi-annually, and a State council yearly, and a 
national council every leap year, and a world's 
council every decade, beginning with 1900. 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM 81 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 

In presenting a few thoughts on this subject we 
do not do it because we think it of such paramount 
importance, but because there is probably no other 
theme which is productive of so much discord in the 
churches. "We shall not present it in a controversial 
spirit, but our design will be to prove that we have 
no precept in the Bible on the mode of baptism, 
therefore the mode is non-essential. But a Christian 
is at liberty to practice any mode his conscience 
dictates. 

Baptism is a symbol of regeneration by the Holy 
Spirit. This rite stamps the work of regeneration 
as by hieroglyphics. It is not left to the changing 
form of words, but this beautiful symbol will always 
remain the same in all ages of the world. It sym- 
bolizes that mysterious work of the Holy Spirit in 
the soul, dead in sin, and brought to life in the 
spiritual resurrection. 

One thing may as well be considered as settled 
for all time, that is that Christians can never come 
to an agreement on the scriptural mode of baptism. 
If we wait for this we may wait till the last trumpet 
shall sound before we unite. This subject has been 
in controversy for more than two hundred years, and 



82 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

we are no nearer an agreement than when we began. 
We have eminent Christian scholars on both sides, 
and we cannot expect any new light on the subject 
that is authoritative. We have no precept on the 
mode of baptism in the Bible. All we have are in- 
ferences drawn from sacred history. Even if it could 
be shown that the early Christians and that Christ 
himself was immersed in baptism, which cannot be 
done, then the subject would not be settled, for our 
climate and mode of living is so different, and style 
of clothing is not the same as in oriental countries. 
What was proper in a warm climate, where the 
people wore but little clothing, might not be proper 
in a cold climate where much clothing is needed for 
protection from the cold, and where the water is 
frozen a great part of the year. 

There is one thing we should remember which 
some are prone to forget, that it is not the custom 
of the early Christians we are to follow, but the in- 
spired precepts of the Bible, and in absence of any 
precept we are not bound by the mode or custom of 
the early Christians. The gospel is intended to be 
universal — no country is excluded from its blessings. 
If immersion in baptism had been commanded in 
many cold regions of the frozen North, in Greenland 
and in many other cold regions, baptism would be 
well-nigh impossible, for they do not even wash 
their hands for the want of water. The Christian 
religion does not require impossibilities of any one. 
The cold climate, we suppose, is the reason why the 
Baptists do not have missions in Greenland. Then 
if there were no other churches the poor Eskimos 
would have to live and die without the gospel. 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 83 

The Lord's supper is just as sacred an ordinance 
as that of baptism, and it stands in the same relation 
to us — both stand on the command of Christ. "We 
are quite sure that we know the manner in which 
that was taken. The narrative tells us that it was 
taken in an upper room, and we also know the 
custom of the Apostles and those living in that age 
was to partake of their meals in a reclining posture. 
But we do not know of any church that thinks it 
necessary to follow this custom of the Apostles in 
taking the Lord's supper. If it is the custom of the 
Apostles we are to follow, let us have another 
church formed to carry out this custom ; it might be 
called the reclining or upper-room church. 

"We know that baptism was adminstered in the 
name of the trinity, and that water was used as an 
emblem of cleansing; further than this we have only 
inferences drawn from sacred history. Then why 
should this subject cause so much discord, and rend 
the churches in fragments. 

If a minister believes that immersion is the scrip- 
tural mode of baptism, it is his privilege to teach it, 
but if he fails to convince the candidate for baptism 
that he is right, then his responsibility in the matter 
ends. He has no right on this account to refuse 
him church fellowship, and he cannot do so without 
incurring the judgment Christ pronounced against 
those who offend one of these little ones. This dis- 
crimination is a sin against God, and in this day of 
gospel light and knowledge " the hour of God's 
judgment has come," and such offenders will incur 
a weight of guilt that will be as a millstone about 
their necks. 



84 GOB 'S MESSENGERS. 

We have in the case of Christ's injunction in re- 
gard to feet-washing a plain illustration that it is 
not the custom of Christ and his Apostles that we 
are to follow. We have here a plain injunction of 
Christ himself, " Ye ought also to wash one another's 
feet." This is a direct injunction and not a strained 
inference as in the mode of baptism, but a direct 
injunction of Christ himself. But there are not 
many churches that follow this custom, although it 
stands on the same basis as that of the Lord's supper 
and that of baptism. In regard to the supper he 
said, " This do in remembrance of me." And in re- 
gard to baptism he said, " Go ye therefore and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." 
And in feet-washing it is said, " After that he poured 
water into a bason and began to wash the disciples 
feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith 
he was girded. If I, your Lord and Master, have 
washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's 
feet." But in the latter case custom and climate 
has changed the moral obligation literally to obey 
this injunction. No one can say the same is not 
true in regard to the mode of baptism, even if we 
admit that immersion was practiced or that Christ 
himself was baptized in this manner. 

But the spirit of the injunction is just as binding 
on us as it was on the Apostles, that is we should be 
willing to condescend to perform any act of kind- 
ness or service to our fellow man that is needed, 
even to washing their feet if it would be received as 
an act of kindness. But our climate and our mode 
of dress is so different that it cannot be obligatory 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 85 

on .us. Here is a clear case where climate and cus- 
tom entirely changes the moral obligation. In that 
warm climate, where the people wore no shoes, and 
a friend came in tired and dusty from his long walk, 
it was a great relief to have his feet washed with 
cool water, and it was received as an act of hospi- 
tality and kindness. But if a friend now comes to 
us and we proceed to take off his shoes and stockings 
and wash his feet it would be received as an offense 
rather than an act of kindness. Custom and climate 
has changed the obligation, and may it not be thus 
in the mode of baptism ? 

An ancient document in Greek has lately been 
found dating back to the early part of the second 
century, called " the teaching of the Apostles." Its 
genuineness has never been questioned. We do not 
mean by this that it comes to us with the same 
authority as the Bible, but that it was written at 
the time given, and by those who professed to know 
the teaching of the Apostles, and who may have 
listened to Paul or Peter. It says this was their 
teaching, " If thou hast not running water baptize in 
other water, and if thou canst not in cold, then in 
warm. But if thou hast neither pour water upon 
the head thrice in the name of the Father and Son 
and Holy Spirit." This shows that as early as the 
times of the Apostles, and perhaps with their sanc- 
tion, water was poured upon the head in baptism. 

But some say we have direct teaching because 
" baptizo " always means to immerse. But this asser- 
tion is not true. Lexicographers give a variety of defi- 
nitions to " baptizo." Parkhurst gives this definition: 
" Baptizo from Bapto, to dip, to immerse, to plunge, 



86 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

to wash one's self, to be washed with, or in water in 
token of cleansing." Donegan gives it " to dip into, 
to sink, to immerse, to wash, to lave.- ' " Baptizo " is a 
generic, and not a specific word, just as the word to 
kill means to take life, but it may be done in various 
ways. A man may be killed by drowning, or by 
poison, or by shooting, and in many other ways. 

"Baptizo" does not always mean to immerse, either 
in classic or in New Testament Greek. We could 
make many quotations from classic Greek where it 
cannot mean to immerse. In Achilles Tatius we 
read, " What crime have we committed so great in 
a few days to be baptized by such a multitude of 
evils." " But he baptized by danger sinks." And 
in Canon Narrat, " Having baptized Alexander by 
much wine." And again in Plutarch, " Baptizing 
out of great wine jars." And in Heimerius, " For 
there fighting he baptized all Asia." And in Jewish 
Antiquities, " And baptized by drunkenness into 
insensibility and sleep." In all these quotations and 
many more that might be made the word " baptizo " 
is used and cannot possibly mean to immerse. 

And in the "New Testament the same is true. John 
says, " I indeed baptize you with water unto repent- 
ance, but he that cometh after me — he shall baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." In I Cor. 
x. 1, 2, we read, " That all our fathers were under the 
cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and were all 
baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea." 
Pharoah and his host were immersed in the sea, but 
the Israelites were not. We do not know what this 
means, but the strongest probability is that it rained 
on them from the cloud. And in I Cor. xv. 29, 



THE MODE OF BAPTISM. 8? 

u Else what shall they do who are baptized for the 
dead." In these passages " baptizo " could not mean 
to immerse, 

The reason why " baptizo " was not translated was 
because there is no single word in the English lan- 
guage that has the same meaning. Immerse would 
not do, for a man may be immersed without being 
baptized. Some years since the Baptists made a 
translation of the New Testament and rendered 
" baptizo " by the word immerse. But they soon got 
ashamed of it and we believe it is now out of print. 
Their own scholars said it could not stand, for while 
they believed that immersion was the true mode of 
baptism, immerse does not give the meaning of the 
word. No argument can be based on the Greek 
preposition st $ 9 for that word sometimes means on, 
upon, near by. And even if into is the best trans- 
lation it proves nothing for immersion, for in that 
warm climate, where the people wore no shoes, it 
would be natural to go into the water and dip 
it up. 

In the Catacombs of Rome, to which the early 
Christians were driven by Nero in the first century, 
there is a drawing made by those Christians on the 
rock walls, in which the baptism of Jesus is repre- 
sented. Jesus stands in the water and J ohn with his 
hand puts the water on his head. Did not these 
Christians in the first century, while John, the writer 
of Revelation, was still living, know how the Lord 
was baptized better than we who live in the nine- 
teenth century ? 

The text so often quoted to prove immersion in 
Rom. vi. 4, " We are buried with him by baptism 



88 GOD -S MESSENGERS. 

into death," we think has no reference to immersion 
whatever, because there is no analogy between the 
two. It simply means like as death and burial 
mark the change from an earthly to an eternal life, 
so baptism is a symbol of a change from a life of 
sin to a life of holiness — from the old to the new life. 
Christ was not buried as we bury our dead. His 
body was laid on a rocky shelf in a stone cave. "Was 
that like immersion? Not at all. There is no 
analogy between this and putting a man under the 
water. 

The position taken by some on baptism in regard 
to Christian union is unreasonable. The} r say inas- 
much as we do not recognize sprinkling or pouring as 
valid baptism, but all the other churches accept im- 
mersion as valid baptism, for when they receive 
members into the church who have been baptized by 
immersion they do not baptize them again, therefore 
we have here a common ground, and let us stand 
on baptism by immersion as a common ground in 
Christian union. About two-thirds of the Christian 
world do not believe that immersion is the scriptural 
mode of baptism, although they accept it as valid 
baptism because they do not regard the mode 
essential. Shall this large majority come over to 
the minority and baptize by a mode they do not 
think to be scriptural. There can be no other basis 
of union than liberty of conscience in the mode of 
baptism. 

Besides the engravings in the Catacombs of Eome, 
made in the first century, we have others made at 
different periods. In the dome of the baptistry at 
Eavenna, built a.d. 454, is the representation of John 



THE MODE Ofr BAPTISM. 89 

baptizing Jesus in Jordan. John is standing on a rock 
holding in his hand a shell from which he is pouring 
water on the head of Jesus. We have also a repre- 
sentation of the baptism of Constantine, a.d. 324. 
The emperor is in a bath and Eusebius is administer- 
ing the rite of baptism by pouring. 

These engravings prove that the early Christians 
did baptize by pouring, for their pictures must rep- 
resent the customs of the times. It is folly to say 
the artists made fancy pictures which they had 
never seen or heard of. And as we have no record 
of any discussion on the mode of baptism, one of 
two things must be true. Either they never did 
baptize by immersion, or that they did not think the 
mode of sufficient importance to merit discussion. 
We are forced to adopt one of these conclusions. 
But some may say they may have had controversy 
on the subject, but no record was made of it. We 
have the record of controversies on almost every 
phase of Bible doctrine, but nothing on the mode 
of baptism. 

The subject of infant baptism was warmly dis- 
cussed. Justin Martyr, who was the earliest writer 
after the Apostles, held a discussion with Typho, a 
Jew, on infant baptism. Augustine held a short 
controversy with Pelagius. In his reply Felagius 
says, " Men slander me as if I denied the sacrament 
of baptism to infants. I never heard of any, not even 
the most impious heretic, who denied baptism to in- 
fants." Oregen, who lived eighty -five years after 
the death of John, says, "the custom of baptizing 
infants was handed down from the Apostles." These 
quotations are sufficient to show that similar subjects 



00 god >s nmsEmms. 

were discussed, but nothing on the mode of baptism. 
If it had been we should have had some record of it. 
Then why should the churches be torn asunder on 
this non-essential. 

The moving cause of all this controversy is not 
that people are so anxious that others should believe 
as they do on the mode of baptism, but the founda- 
tion lies in church rivalry. We prove this assertion 
in this way. Many churches whose standard is 
sprinkling or pouring will baptize by immersion 
if the candidate desires it. The Methodist church 
has many in its fold who have been baptized by 
immersion. Do the other members turn a cold 
shoulder to them, and regard them as black sheep 
in the fold ? Not at all. After they have been re- 
ceived as members the mode by which they were 
baptized is forgotten, and there is no jarring or dis- 
cord on this subject. But if a Baptist can make the 
people believe that immersion is the only valid mode 
of baptism he will likely get them in his church. 
This is the sum and substance of the whole con- 
troversy. The union church will have no trouble on 
this ground. 



THE APOGAL IPSE. 91 



CHAPTER X. 

TH E A P O C A L YPSE . 

Revelation opens to our view scenes of grandeur 
and glory beyond the conception of the human 
mind. No other book gives the tired and afflicted 
Christian in his dreary pilgrimage through life such 
vivid outlines of his happy home in heaven. The 
pictures though symbolical carry the mind through 
scenes of grandeur and beauty that language cannot 
portray. It takes us up from this world of sorrow, 
and lifts us by its sublime imagery into the new 
Jerusalem. 

Eevelation is something shown or opened up to 
the mind. It is not, as some seem to think, a mystery 
which none but God can comprehend. Moses says 
in Deut. xxix. 29 : " The secret things belong to the 
Lord our God, but the things which are revealed be- 
long unto us and our children forever." John says : 
" Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the 
words of this prophecy, and keep the things which 
are written therein." The object of the book, as 
stated by John, is to show unto his servants the 
things which must shortly come to pass. Therefore 
we have nothing to do in interpreting this book 
with events which transpired previous to the writ- 
ing of Revelation. 

John, who had been banished by the tyrant 



92 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

Domitian to the isle of Patraos, had found a quiet 
place on the island to meditate and pray on the 
Lord's day. What a fit time for Christ to reveal 
these glorious things which should take place in the 
world on the day of the week on which he arose 
from the dead, and finished the great work of the 
world's redemption. 

Patmos is a rocky island in the ^Egean Sea. The 
traveler to-day is shown a grotto about halfway up 
the mountain where John is supposed to have wit- 
nessed these grand revelations. The object of the 
Apocalypse is prediction or revealing things to 
come. These appeared to John in pictures and 
symbols, and represented to us in words. It gives 
us an outline of the history of God's people from his 
time to the end of the world. The conflicts, and 
rise and fall of nations, is given only as landmarks 
or guides for us to follow in tracing the history of 
the Christian church, and to point out its most 
notable epochs. It is not a history of the world at 
large, but that of the church. If we keep this in 
mind we can better understand the language. 

Many of these symbols relating to the history of 
nations have been satisfactorily interpreted. The 
fulfilment has been clearly pointed out by reference 
to the history of the world, especially the " Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Empire," by Gibbon. Albert 
Barnes, in the preface to his notes on Revelation, 
says, " Beginning with this aim, 1 found myself 
soon insensibly inquiring whether, in the events 
which succeed the time when the book was written, 
there was not historical facts of which the emblems 
employed would be natural and proper symbols, on 



THE APOGAL YPSK 93 

the supposition that it was the divine intention in 
disclosing these visions to refer to them, and 
whether, therefore, these might not be a natural 
and proper application of these symbols to these 
events. In this way I examined the language used 
in reference to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth 
and sixth seals, with no anticipation or plan in ex- 
amining one of the seals, and in this way also I ex- 
amined ultimately the whole book ; proceeding 
step by step in ascertaining the meaning of each 
word and symbol as it occurred, but with no theoretic 
anticipation as to what was to follow. To my own 
surprise I found, chiefly in Gibbons' ' Decline and 
Fall of the Eoman Empire,' a series of events re- 
corded, such as seemed to me to correspond to a 
great extent with the series of events recorded, 
such as appeared to correspond to a great extent 
with the series of symbols found in the Apocalypse, 
The symbols were such as might be supposed would 
be used on the supposition that they were intended 
to refer to these events, and the language of Mr. 
Gibbon was often such as he would have used on 
the supposition that he had designed to prepare a 
commentary on the symbols employed by John. It 
was such in fact, that, if it had been found in a 
Christian writer, purposely writing a commentary 
on the book of Revelation, it would have been re- 
garded by infidels as a designed attempt to force 
history to utter language that should conform to a 
predetermined theory in expounding a book full of 
symbols. 

" So remarkable have these coincidences appeared 
to me in exposition that it has almost seemed as if 



94 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

he had designed to write a commentary on some 
portion of this book, and I have found it difficult to 
doubt that that distinguished historian was raised 
up by an overruling Providence to make a record 
of these events which would ever afterward be re- 
garded as an important and unprejudiced statement 
of the evidences of the fulfilment of prophecy. The 
historian of the ' Decline and Fall of the Roman 
Empire ' had no belief in a divine origin of Chris- 
tianity, but he brought to the performance of his 
work learning and talent such as few Christians 
possess. He is always patient in his investigations, 
learned and scholarly in his references, comprehen- 
sive in his groupings, and sufficiently minute in his 
details, unbiased in his statements of facts, and 
usually cool and candid in his estimates of the causes 
of the events which he records ; and excepting his 
philosophical speculations, and his sneers at every- 
thing sacred, he has publicly written the most can- 
did and important history of the times that the world 
possesses, and even after all that has been written 
since his time, his work contains the best ecclesias- 
tical history that is to be found. Whatever use of 
it can be made in explaining and confirming the 
prophecies will be regarded by the world as impar- 
tial and fair, for it was a result which he least of all 
contemplated that he would ever be regarded as an 
expounder of the prophecies of the Bible, or be re- 
ferred to as vindicating its truths." 

We regard Mr. Barnes' conclusions in the main as 
correct and scholarly, but some events have trans- 
pired since his day that had he known them would 
doubtless have changed his expositions of some of 



THE APOGAL YPSK 95 

the symbols. The Kevelation was written in a time 
of persecution from the world, and internal troubles 
was soon to overtake the church. Heresies, and 
divisions, and corrupt doctrines and practices might 
be expected. A time of great darkness would come 
over the church, so great that some might be in 
doubt as to whether the feeble church would not 
become entirely extinct. The faithful Christian was 
to be sorely tried in coming ages. The Revelation 
was designed to meet this emergency by furnishing 
assurance that the gospel would finally triumph, 
that " the Gates of Hell should not prevail against 
it." Everything in the book gives assurance of the 
universal reign of righteousness, that the redeemed 
shall be delivered from the persecutors and enter 
into the gates into the city. 

By the symbols and figures of this book we can- 
not overlook the similarity of Revelation with that 
of Daniel's prophecy. The same language is often 
used, and the same events represented by Daniel's 
symbols are repeated and more minutely unfolded, 
so that we must look upon Revelation as being a 
sequel to the prophecy of Daniel, and to unfold 
some events soon to take place. Daniel traced with 
minuteness the history of God's people down to the 
establishment of the Christian church, and outlined 
some events which reach down to our times. 

John takes up the history from the infancy of the 
church, and carries it to the end of human pro- 
bation. The little horn of Daniel, which most 
Protestant commentators make to represent papacy, 
which was the persecuting power which was to 
" wear out the saints of the Most High." Daniel 



96 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

does not give the time of the appearance of this 
power nor the time when it would close, but he 
gives the time of its continuance, which was a times 
and a half. Like Daniel, John does not give the 
date of the rise and fall of this power, but he gives 
us the duration five times ; this shows the great im- 
portance he attached to this subject. He gives the 
time in the same figure as Daniel : time, times and a 
half, but generally in months, weeks, and days, but 
all the different symbols represent twelve hundred 
and sixty years. This time times and a half must 
be the lifetime of this persecuting power. When 
this period ends this little horn will never again have 
the power to persecute the Christian church, al- 
though it may exist to the end of time. 

We cannot begin the date of this persecuting 
power when the Church of Eome was organized, for 
it was probably established by Paul or Peter. Its 
apostacy from the true faith was gradual; many 
centuries elapsed before it became a persecuting 
power to " wear out the saints of the Most High." 
This period did not arrive until the pope had secular 
power. This date may be fixed at the time when 
the Emperor Justinian conferred the title and power 
of universal bishop on the pope in 533. This edict, 
however, could not be enforced until the Ostrogoths, 
the last of the three powers, were plucked up, which 
event occurred in 538. Then the helpless saints 
were truly under the power of the pope. This gave 
him the power to punish the heretics. This date then 
may be placed as the beginning of the twelve hundred 
and sixty years so often noticed in prophecy. This 
period then would terminate in 1798, when Birthiera, 



THE APOGAL TPSE. 97 

a French general under Napoleon, at the time of the 
French Revolution, subjugated Rome and took the 
pope prisoner, and for a time papacy was abolished, 
the pope dying in exile. When Bonaparte came into 
power he deprived Pope Pius of his power. This 
subjugation was completed by Yictor Emmanuel in 
his revolution for a united Italy. Then the civil 
power of the pope was taken away, as Victor 
Emmanuel said, " never more to be restored.'' 

Many of the symbols in the Apocalypse refer to 
this power and its final overthrow. From this we 
can see that Revelation is a sequel to the prophecy 
of Daniel. We may, therefore, expect to find in this 
book a notice of the long period predicted in Daniel 
of twenty -three hundred days. Having given us a 
history of the infant church, and traced its progress 
through its days of darkness and persecution, and 
opened to our view the glory of its final triumph, and 
having given us many particulars in regard to Daniel's 
prophecy, we cannot think he would overlook the 
longest prophetic period on record, and one that the 
angel thought to be of so much importance that 
he called Daniel's attention to it the second time. 

We think the vision in the tenth chapter of the 
angel with the little book open, having one foot on 
the land and the other on the sea, and cried as when 
a lion roareth that time should be no longer, was 
significantly fulfilled in the Millerite excitement, 
and their sore disappointment. 

Many commentators, among them Albert Barnes, 
have attempted an explanation of the little open 
book in the angel's hand, but have failed to give a 
satisfactory explanation. Mr. Barnes thinks it rep- 



98 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

resents the Bible in the convent which Luther found 
and opened up to the world, and he makes this 
vision to represent the Eeformation in the time of 
Luther. But the burden of the angel's message that 
time shall be no longer forbids such an application. 
And that book, chained in the convent, was a large 
book, perhaps the largest made, so it could not have 
been called a little book. 

We think this little book contained that part of 
Daniel's prophecy yet to be fulfilled, which might 
well be called a little book. It was the opening of 
Daniel's prophecy of the twenty -three hundred days, 
and the disappointment of that people who looked 
for the end of the world in 1844. 



THE LOBD'S DAY. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE LORD'S DAY, OR CHRISTIAN SABBATH. 

John tells us these visions appeared to him in the 
isle of Patmos while he was in the spirit on the 
Lord's day. This was undoubtedly on the first day 
of the week, or the Christian Sabbath. The word 
here translated Lord's occurs only in this place and 
in I Cor. xi. 20, where it is applied to the Lord's 
supper. It properly means pertaining to the Lord. 
It is evident that this refers to the same day, which 
was distinguished from all other days of the week, 
and which would be well known to his brethren by 
the use of the term Lord's day. If the Jewish 
Sabbath was intended he would have called it the 
Sabbath, for this was the term always used to desig- 
nate that day. 

The term was used generally by the early Chris- 
tians to denote the first day of the week. It occurs 
twice in the Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians 
a.d. 101, who calls the Lord's day the " queen and 
prince of all days." As John died a.d. 98, this 
Epistle was written only three years after his death. 
It is evident that it was customary in John's time to 
call the first day of the week the Lord's day. Theo- 
doret, in speaking of the Ebionites, says, " They 
keep the Sabbath according to the Jewish law, and 
sanctify the Lord's clay in like manner as we do." 



100 GOD >S MESSENGERS. 

The title was doubtless given in honor of the day 
when the Lord arose from the dead. The day was 
thus early distinguished so that the mention of it 
by John would be easily understood. Therefore 
this day comes to us with Apostolic sanction. 

The church historian Eusebius, who had all Chris- 
tian literature on the subject at his command, is 
quoted by Stewart as saying in his commentary on 
Ps. 91: "The word (that is Christ) by the new 
covenant translated and transferred the feast of the 
Sabbath to the morning light, and gave as the sym- 
bol of the true rest, namely, the Lord's day the first 
day of the light in which the Saviour obtained the 
victory over death, and this day we assemble after 
an interval of six days and celebrate the holy 
spiritual Sabbath, even all nations redeemed through- 
out the world, and do the things according to the 
spiritual laws which are decreed for the priests to 
do on the Sabbath. All things whatsoever that is 
done was their duty to do on the Sabbath ; these we 
have transferred to the Lord's day as more appro- 
priate to it, because it has precedence, and is first in 
rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. 
It is traditionally handed down to us that we should 
meet together on this day and it is ordered that we 
should do these things announced in this Psalm. ,; 

Theophilus says, about a.d. 161 : " Both custom 
and reason challenges us that we should honor the 
Lord's day, 7 ' and he goes on to tell us how to keep 
it. Dionysius, writing to the Komans a.d. 170, 
says : " We celebrate the Lord's day," and he tells us 
how it was observed by Christians 

Augustus says • i% The Lord's day was observed by 



THE LORD 'S DA T. lot 

Christians, and began to be celebrated as the Christian 
festival." Atheniensus says : " The Lord has trans- 
ferred the feast of the Sabbath to the Lord's day." 
Eusebius says : " The resurrection or the Lord's day 
is observed at this time throughout all the world, 
for by the new covenant was transferred the feast 
of the Sabbath." Justin Martyr lived from a.d. 110 
to a.d. 165. He had every opportunity of knowing 
Avhat was the teaching of the Apostles in regard to 
the Sabbath. Therefore when he states " that the 
custom was to observe the first day of the week, and 
that Jesus was crucified on the day before Saturn, 
and on the day after Saturn, which is the day of the 
son having appeared to his Apostles, he taught them 
these things which we have submitted to you." 
Certainly his testimony cannot be set aside, for it 
was too early for the churches to have lost the 
Apostolic teaching concerning these facts. 

Therefore we may conclude that the custom of 
keeping the first day of the week as the Sabbath 
was received from the Apostles. From these quota- 
tions, and many more which might be made from 
the early fathers of the church, some of them co- 
laborers with John, we must conclude that the first 
day of the week was regarded as the Christian Sab- 
bath, and called, as John did in the isle of Patmos, 
the Lord's day. We shall dwell a little on this 
subject, as it will help us better to understand some 
things we wish to notice further on. 

The term Sabbath day means rest day, and 
nothing more. It does not point out any specific 
day of the week. The first mention made of a rest 
day is found in Gen. ii. 23 : " God blessed the seventh 



102 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

day and sanctified it. And on the seventh day God 
ended His work which He had made , and rested on 
the seventh day from all His works which He had 
made." 

What day was this that God sanctified and blessed ? 
It could not have been the weekly Sabbath, unless 
we regard the days of creation to be days of twenty- 
four hours each. But geology tells us that the 
world is much older than the date of the creation of 
man as given by Moses. So that the creative days 
before the earth was fitted up for man must have 
been Jong cycles of time ; then the rest day must 
correspond to this period of time called days. Then 
we may now be living in God's rest day that he 
sanctified and blessed. Then the day that God 
blessed has no connection with the weekly Sabbath, 
only that it was a rest after six days of labor. \Ve 
do not know that it was then given to man as a rest 
day ; if it had been we should have had some account 
of it in the Patriarchal age. But in all their wander- 
ings we have no mention made of the Sabbath until 
the children of Israel had come from the land of 
Egypt. We have nothing either by precept or 
example requiring the observance of the Sabbath 
from Adam to Moses This is presumptive evidence 
that it was not observed. 

The number seven is mentioned by Noah and 
others, but there is no evidence that it was observed 
as a day of rest. The number seven has been con- 
spicuous throughout the world. Many have been 
the efforts to explain it. Cicero calls it M omnium 
fere nodus,* the bond of all things. It probably had 
its origin in the six days of creation and the seventh 



THE LORD >S DA Y. 103 

of rest. The first mention of the Sabbath as a rest 
day for man was after the Israelites had been de- 
livered from Egyptian bondage, recorded in Ex. 
xvi. 23 : " This is that which the Lord hath said. 
To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the 
Lord." Moses does not speak as if he had obtained 
it from tradition, but by a direct revelation from 
the Lord, as he had received the other forms and 
ordinances. 

It was afterward given to them with the com- 
mandments in the decalogue in these words, " Ee- 
member the Sabbath day to keep it holy." This is 
the whole of the commandment, the rest is only ex- 
planatory. There is nothing said about the day of 
the week on which this should be observed. It was 
only after six days of labor. There is nothing in 
the commandment requiring any certain day of the 
week, so that those who work on the seventh day 
and rest on the first and keep it as a holy Sabbath, 
which is our national rest day as well as that of 
nearly all the nations of the earth, do more literally 
keep this command than those who keep the seventh 
day. 

This day was given to the Jews on the seventh 
day of the week. The Bible plainly shows that it 
was given to them exclusively as a nation, and not 
to the Gentiles. This is clearly seen from the lan- 
guage, " The children of Israel shall keep the Sab- 
bath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their 
generations" It was confined to their generations. 
That the Jewish Sabbath was abolished in Christ is 
plain from Col. ii. 16, 17: "Let no man therefore 
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a 



104 &OD y S MESSENGERS. 

holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath 
days ; which are a shadow of things to come, but the 
body is of Christ." It is claimed that this does not 
include the weekly Sabbaths. But where there is 
no exception made in the Bible we have no right to 
make any. It is in the plural Sabbaths, and must 
include all the Sabbaths unless an exception is made. 
The Sabbath was not abolished, but the Jewish Sab- 
bath was. The command " Eemember the rest day, 
to keep it holy," will never be abolished as long as 
men live on earth. 

The rest day was given to man to meet his physical 
and moral necessities. Christ teaches this doctrine 
when he says, " The Sabbath was made for man." 
Man needs one day in seven to rest his physical 
nature, and there is no less need of this day of rest 
to meet his moral and spiritual wants. 

It is claimed by some that the Sabbath was insti- 
tuted as a memorial of the finished work of creation. 
This idea is derived from the explanation of the 
fourth commandment. " For in six days the Lord 
made heaven and earth, and all that in them is, and 
rested on the seventh day." But we cannot look 
upon this as giving a reason for the institution ; 
it is only referred to as an illustration that God ob- 
served this law and thereby set an illustrious ex- 
ample for us to follow. If we regard the word 
" for " as introducing a reason, why not make the 
same interpretation in regard to the word " for " in 
the command just preceeding, " Thou shalt not take 
the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain, 'for' the 
Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his 
name in vain." Does anv one think the " for " in 



THE LOUD >8 DA Y. 105 

this commandment introduces a reason why we 
should not take the name of 3-od in vain. ~No one 
can reasonably take this ground and hold that pro- 
fanity is no sin, for it brings us into condemnation, 
and we will be held guilty. It only introduces the 
results of disobedience, and that is no reason why it 
should be obeyed. Then why should we insist that 
the " for " in the next command introduces a reason 
for the institution of the Sabbath. The reason for 
the Sabbath is that man needs it, and not as a monu- 
ment of the finished work of creation. Christ does 
not say the Sabbath was made for a monument, 
but he tells us plainly that " the Sabbath was made 
for man." The monumental idea of the Sabbath is 
well-nigh abolished when we consider the days of 
creation as long periods of time — science teaches 
this. Moses says, " In the beginning God created 
the heavens and the earth." How long this was be- 
fore it was fitted up for man he does not tell. If 
the Sabbath of twenty-four hours is memorial of the 
rest after creation, it is so only symbolically. Hence 
the idea that some entertain that in keeping the 
seventh day of the week they are keeping the iden- 
tical day on which God rested has no foundation 
whatever. 

" Eemember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," is 
moral in its nature because founded in our moral 
and physical well being, and he who violates that 
law is guilty o* breaking God's law. But the day 
of the week on which it is observed is not moral only 
so far as the hand of God directs. The fourth com- 
mandment is just as binding on us as it was on the 
Jews. 



1 06 GOD *8 MESSENGERS. 

One thing is worthy of notice here: Christ re- 
peated in sentiment or by direct quotation all the 
commandments but the fourth. Why was this 
omitted in His teaching ? We cannot reasonably 
say that it was an accidental omission. But in all 
His precepts to His Apostles he never instructed them 
to keep the Jewish Sabbath, but He was often 
accused of violating it We can see no reason why 
He did not instruct His disciples to observe the 
Jewish Sabbath, unless it was that it was so soon 
to pass away, and such teaching would confuse 
them when they found He showed a preference for 
the first day of the week by meeting with them on 
that day after His resurrection. As the seventh- 
day Sabbath was to be abolished at His death there 
was no reason why He should instruct them to keep 
the Jewish Sabbath. 

In looking over the world's history we find that 
the first day of the week is observed as the Sabbath 
almost universally, and is sanctioned by law, there- 
fore, in keeping this rest day, or Sabbath, we keep 
the fourth commandment more literally than do 
those who keep the seventh day. This cannot be 
denied, for it is the rest day, or Sabbath. There is 
nothing in the command about the day of the 
week that shall be kept as the Sabbath. 

The only question in dispute is, Has the Lord's 
day divine sanction? God has honored the first 
day of the week more than any other day. On this 
day Israel was led out of Egypt, manna fell in the 
wilderness, law given to Moses from Mount Sinai, 
tabernacle set up, Aaron entered the office of high 
priest, Jesus arose from the dead, He appeared to 



THE LORD *S DA T. 107 

his disciples, the Holy Spirit poured out on the day 
of Pentecost. Why was not all this done on the 
seventh day ? Never was such a stamp of divine 
honor placed on any other day of the week. It is 
no wonder Eusebius said it is more honorable than 
the Jewish Sabbath. 

The world with a few exceptions observe the first 
day of the week as the rest day, or Sabbath. How 
came this change ? So great a change must have 
had some good foundation. The Seventh-day 
Adventists claim that the pope made the change. 
On this supposition they have built many fine 
castles, and on this foundation they have built their 
interpretation of prophecy, and by it have pointed 
out the wreck and desolation of almost every insti- 
tution in the world. All this would be very fine if 
it were only true. How do they prove this ? We 
listened an hour to a lecture by the president of the 
general conference of Seventh-day Adventists with 
all the patience at our command, while he was en- 
deavoring to prove by Catholic catechism that the 
pope made the change. Would they accept this as 
any authority on other subjects? We think not. 
Would they accept the doctrine that the pope was 
the vicegerent of Christ with power to forgive sins, 
because it is taught in Catholic catechism? Yet they 
quote it to prove that the pope changed the Sabbath. 
Suppose we should attempt to prove what is called 
the doctrine of original sin by quoting from the 
New England primer : 

" In Adam's fall 
We sinned all." 



108 OOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

or from Josh Billings : 

" In Adam's sin 
"We all pitched in." 

Our proof would be just as good, for our authority 
is just as good, but we do not believe we should get 
much credit for our logic. History tells us that 
Kobert Fulton invented the application of steam for 
the propulsion of boats, but if some one could show 
that steam was used for this purpose long before 
Fulton's day, it would entirely invalidate his claim to 
the invention. So if we can show a single instance 
where the first day of the week was observed as the 
Sabbath centuries before there was a pope his claim 
cannot stand. This we have in the case of Constan- 
tine, a historic record that no one dares to dispute ; 
it is even found in our school histories. 

Constantine was converted and joined the Greek 
church in the early part of the fourth century. We 
have no knowledge that he ever changed his church 
relations. In regard to his sincerity Mosheim, one 
ot our best authorities on church history, says : 
" The sincerity of Constantine's zeal for Christianity 
can scarcely be doubted, unless it be maintained 
that the outward actions of men are in no degree a 
proof of their inward sentiments." We may find 
many things in his life that seem inconsistent with 
what we in this day think proper for a Christian 
to do. But much of his conduct may be attributed 
to his heathen surroundings. 

About a.d. 325 he made & law for the observance 
of the first day of the week as a day of rest and 
worship. History tells us the reason why he made 



THE LORD 'S DA Y. 109 

this law was because so many of his subjects already- 
observed the first day of the week as a day of rest, 
and called it the Lord's clay. He required his armies 
to maintain devotional exercises on that day. And 
courts of judicature were not to be held on that 
day, and suits and trials were not to be held. And 
all shows and theatrical exhibitions, dancing and 
other amusements were strictly forbidden. Nothing 
can be clearer than that he desired to have the day 
observed as a Christian Sabbath in honor of the risen 
Saviour. He once called this day the venerable 
day of the sun, but we must remember that a large 
part of his empire were sun worshippers, and like a 
wily politician he called it the venerable day of the 
sun, thus appealing to their cherished custom of sun 
worship, as they could not appreciate the day as a 
Christian memorial. "No pretended reasoning can 
change these historical facts. 

There is abundant historic evidence that the day 
was changed long before the days of Constantine, 
who reigned more than a century before the Church 
of Rome ever had a pope. In the manuscript 
recently found, called "The teaching of the 
Apostles," it is stated that Sunday was observed as 
a day of rest one hundred and fifty years before 
Constantine. It can easily be proved by the writings 
of the early Greek and Latin fathers that the early 
Christians kept the first day of the week, and when 
the Church of Rome became corrupt Pope Leo re- 
tained the ancient custom, and made more rigid laws 
for the observance of the day than any one in 
authority before him. 

All the most authentic writers on church history 



HO GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

agree that it was the usual custom of the Apostles 
and early Christians to keep the first day of the 
week instead of the Jewish Sabbath. Dr. Priestly 
says such notions as Christians should observe the 
Jewish Sabbath in the days of the Apostles was un- 
heard of, except among the Ebionites, a class of 
Judaizing Christians, if Christians at all, who kept 
the Jewish Sabbath. With this exception all Chris- 
tians up to the fourth century were unanimous in 
calling the first day of the week the Sabbath, or 
Lord's day." 



THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. HI 



CHAPTEK XII. 

THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. 

We find in Eevelation the history of the people 
of God represented in a series of visions. Most of 
the events symbolized in these series of visions fol- 
low each other in chronological order. Between the 
sounding of the sixth and seventh trumpets we have 
an important announcement made by an angel, 
recorded in the tenth chapter. 

" And I saw another mighty angel come down 
from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow 
was upon his head, and his face was as it were the 
sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in 
his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot 
upon the sea and his left foot on the earth. And 
cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth; and 
when he had cried the seven thunders uttered 
their voices. And when the seven thunders had 
uttered their voices, I was about to write : and I 
heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, i Seal 
up those things which the seven thunders uttered, 
and write them not.' And the angel which I saw 
stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his 
hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for 
ever and ever, who created heaven and the things 
that therein are, and the earth and the things that 



112 GOB 'S MESSENGERS. 

therein are, and the sea and the things which are 
therein, that there should be time no longer. But in 
the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he 
shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be 
finished, as he hath declared to his servants the 
prophets. And the voice which I heard from heaven 
spake unto me again, and said, ' Go and take the 
little book which is open in the hand of the angel 
which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.' 
And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, 
'Give me the little book.' And he said unto me, 
1 Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly 
bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.' 
And I took the little book out of the angel's hands 
and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as 
honey, and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was 
bitter." 

John calls this another angel, for he had seen 
other angels similar to this one in former visions. 
He had seen the seven angels who blew the seven 
last trumpets, and he had heard six of them give 
their blast, and only one remained yet to sound. 

This vision is thrown in between the sixth and 
seventh trumpets, indicating that another series of 
visions was to begin between these trumpets, and he 
records the first before giving the last trumpet. 
This message was in a measure explanatory of the 
seventh trumpet which was to announce the universal 
dominion of Christ's kingdom. And this message 
was to remove the greatest obstacle to the spread 
of the gospel, to prepare the world for the final 
blast of the seventh trumpet, which closes all terres- 
trial work. 



TEE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. 113 

He is called a mighty angel, symbolizing the great 
work he was to accomplish. His coming implies 
some divine intervention in the affairs of the church. 
From the description given of this angel some have 
concluded that he was none other than the Son of 
God. Some things in the description of this angel 
are significant of the mission he was to fulfil. A 
rainbow was upon his head. The rainbow is an 
emblem of peace. This implies that he was not a 
messenger of war, as some of the others were, but 
his message was one of peace, and the effect of his 
coming would be like the breaking out of the sun 
after an angry storm. It is a beautiful symbol that 
the storm which has been raging is over, and all the 
turmoil and agitation will cease. The beautiful 
reflection of the rays of light from the falling drops 
of water cannot be produced until the clouds have 
passed away, and the sun has come out. 

It is a pledge that the war of the elements have 
ceased, and the sun will smile again on the earth. 
This rainbow on the head of the angel was to an- 
nounce that peace and good will would result from 
his mission. 

The angel had in his hand a little book open. 
This book being open implies that it was once closed 
or sealed. Where have we a record of a book being 
sealed? We find the record in Dan. xii. 4: "But 
now, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book 
even to the time of the end. " The language im- 
plies that at that time it should be opened. And as 
the closing of the book was mentioned in prophecy 
we may expect that when the events should take 
place the opening of the book would also be noticed 



114 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

in prophecy. There is no other book spoken of in 
prophecy as being sealed to a certain time, except 
that in Daniel, and we have no account of its being 
opened except in Revelation, and as this book is a 
sequel to the book of Daniel the inference is almost 
irresistible that this is that little book which con- 
tained that part of the prophecy of Daniel which 
was not yet opened. 

The Greek word " Biblaridion," translated " little 
book," is found nowhere in the New Testament ex- 
cept here, referring to the book in the angel's hand, 
showing that it is something distinct from an ordi- 
nary book on account of its diminutive size. The 
word " Biblion," denoting an ordinary book, is often 
used. This would entirely preclude Mr. Barnes' 
application of this book to the large volume chained 
in the convent which Luther read. He interprets 
this vision of the angel to apply to the Reformation 
in the time of Luther. But we find many difficulties 
in this interpretation. The only symbol in any way 
favorable to his theory is in making the little book 
to apply to the Bible which was opened to the world 
by Luther and his co-laborers, for we cannot doubt 
that the Bible was the foundation stone of the 
Reformation. It was the Bible that changed Luther 
from a haughty papist to a humble Christian. He 
says : " I was a monk, and a most mad papist, so 
intoxicated was I, and drenched in papal dogmas, 
that I could have been most ready to murder, or as- 
sist others in murdering, any person who should 
have uttered a syllable against the duty of obedience 
to the pope." 

But we meet with many difficulties in applying 



THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. H5 

this little book open in the angel's hands to the Bible 
chained in the monastery at Erfurth. There were 
but few books in those days, and perhaps this Bible 
was among the largest books at that day. The 
word translated " little book " was chosen to denote 
something that was peculiar in the size or form 
of the book, to distinguish it from the ordinary books 
of that day. This of itself is sufficient proof against 
Mr. Barnes' application. But if it represents the 
book of Daniel, it is just such a description as we 
should expect would be made. We are not to sup- 
pose that all the prophecy of Daniel was in that 
little book, for much of the prophecy related to the 
four great empires which had already passed away. 
And that relating to rebuilding Jerusalem, the 
coming of the Messiah, and bringing in of the Gen- 
tiles had all been fulfilled, and it is not necessary 
then to suppose that anything was in the book but 
the prophecies which are still in the future, or that 
which was sealed up to the time of the end. This 
could well be called a little book. 

But the strongest evidence against his theory is 
the language used when he was instructed by the 
angel to eat the book. We suppose by eating tho 
book is meant that of receiving its contents and 
carrying out its import. The effect of receiving 
this book was to be first sweet then bitter. 
But in the Reformation the exact reverse was 
the result. When Luther and his co-laborers first 
made known the truth of the Bible it caused 
bitter persecution. So great was this persecution 
that all the faint-hearted recoiled from the assault 
of papal fury. Had it not been for the unflinching 



116 GOD >S MESSENGERS. 

moral courage of Luther he would have yielded to 
the fury of papal assault. No better illustration of 
moral heroism can be found than that of Luther at 
the Diet of Worms. Bitter persecution was felt by 
all the Keformers. Erasmus was perhaps Luther's 
equal in intellect, but he lacked courage to carry out 
his convictions. D'Aubigne says : " By his conver- 
sation and by his writings Erasmus had prepared 
the way for the Keformation more than any other 
man, but he trembled when he saw the approach of 
that very tempest which he had himself raised. He 
would have given anything to restore the calm of 
former times, even with all its dense vapor. But it 
was too late, the dike was broken. Ultimately 
Erasmus knew not what party to adopt. None 
pleased him and he feared all. ' It is dangerous to 
speak,' said he, ' and dangerous to be silent.' " 

These troublesome times was the result of Luther's 
opening the Bible to the world. But when peace 
was restored, and the arm of civil law protected 
them, how sweet was the quiet repose ! They could 
read God's word, which was like honey to their 
taste. Thus we see the order was reversed — it was 
first bitter then sweet. 

And the manner in which this proclamation is 
made : the angel with one foot on the sea and the 
other on the earth, crying with a loud voice, indicates 
that his message was intended for all the world to 
hear, but the Reformation was confined to a few 
countries in the East ; it was not intended for all the 
world. 

And the burden of his message was that time 
should be no longer. Mr Barnes interprets this 



THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. 11? 

" the time is not yet," and thinks it was intended to 
check the Reformers in the belief that many held 
that the world was near its end. If this was the 
intent it was a total failure, for none of the Reformers 
interpreted the message of the angel as referring to 
them and their work, consequently the warning 
was entirely useless. 

We are surprised that so many intelligent min- 
isters should interpret this message of the angel, an- 
nouncing that " time shall be no longer," to mean 
the end of probation or time on earth. It is only 
the result of superficial investigation. Any one can 
easily see by examining it that it cannot possibly 
mean the end of the world, for the seventh angel 
had not yet sounded, and as all the other trumpets 
represented a long period of time we may suppose 
this would also continue a long time. Then to say 
before the seventh angel had sounded that time on 
earth was ended would be the worst confusion, and 
destroy all the chronological order of the book of 
Revelation. 

Jamieson and Brown, in their commentary on 
Revelation, says on this point : " What "Daniel was 
told to seal up till the time of the end, St. John, now 
that the time is at hand, is directed to reveal." 

We can also see the identity of these books by the 
proclamation of the angel that they both refer to time. 
The question was, " How long shall it be to the end 
of these wonders," and the angel with the open book 
proclaims time shall be no longer. This is the 
strongest evidence that th© little book in the hand 
of the angel represents the prophecy of Daniel. 
This book was to be sealed up to the time of the 



118 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

end. If, then, this little book in the angel's hand 
represents the same book, then it follows that the 
time of the end began when the prophecy of Daniel 
was opened or explained by Yf illiam Miller, a little 
before 1844. 

That prophecy of Daniel was opened to the Jews 
a long time before its fulfilment concerning the 
coming of the Messiah. John the Baptist knew that 
the time had come, for he asks the question, " Art 
thou he that should come, or do we look for 
another. " There is no prophecy on record from 
which this computation could have been made but 
that in Daniel. But the long period of twenty-three 
hundred days was to be sealed up to the time of the 
end. 

The Seventh-day Adventists interpret this to 
mean the end of the world, but there is no warrant 
for such an interpretation in the language. We 
have no reason to believe that Daniel had any 
solicitude about the end of the world. He says 
nothing about it in his prayer for light and knowl- 
edge, but the burden of his soul was not to know 
the time of the end of the world, but what awaited 
his people and all of God's Israel in the great future. 
The angel sa}^s to him, " Now I am come to make 
thee understand what shall befall thy people in the 
latter days, for yet the yision shall be for many 
days." This must have referred to the long period, 
for the prophecy referring to the advent of the 
Messiah was only a little over five hundred years. 
This compared to the long time of twenty-three 
hundred is very short, so that it could not have 
reasonably been called many days. And this is the 



THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. 119 

expression used in speaking of the vision to be 
sealed up. 

The time of the end is used before this, and cannot 
mean the end of the world ; so here we have an ex- 
planation of the term " time of the end." It says : 
"And at the 'time of the end' the King of the 
North shall come against him like a whirlwind, 
with chariots, and with horsemen, and many ships." 
This prophecy has long since been fulfilled, but it 
was to take place at the time of the end — that is 3 the 
end of this prophetic period. So this prophecy was 
sealed up to the end or near the end of this period. 
As Jamieson and Erown, in their commentary, say : 
"What Daniel was told to seal up till the time of 
the end, St. John, now that the time is at hand, is 
directed to reveal." 

By being sealed up we understand that it was 
rendered obscure, so that it was not comprehended 
or understood by man until the appointed time. 
But at the proper time, when its fulfilment was near 
at hand, God raised up one to be his messenger to 
make known to the world that the time had come, 
or in the language of the angel, " time should be no 
longer." 

We think this messenger was William Miller. 
Many men had lived before him far his superior in 
mental ability and skill in science and learning, and 
not inferior to him in piety and zeal for God's glory. 
But they did not solve the problem, because, as 
D'Aubigne said in regard to Christian union, God's 
time had not yet come. We have reason to believe 
that God puts it into the minds of men to fulfil his 
prophecy. In Revelation xvii. IT we read: "God 



120 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to 
agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until 
the words of God shall be fulfilled.'' 

This angel proclamation, we think, was fulfilled in 
what was called the Millerite excitement in 1840 to 
1844. This was a notable period, as all can testify 
who witnessed it or have read the history of those 
times. It compassed the whole earth in a short 
space of time. About seven hundred ministers of 
all denominations in England and about three hun- 
dred in America embraced the faith. They had 
made a great mistake in regard to the event to 
occur at that time, but this only helped to spread 
the proclamation of the angel, who spake with a lion 
voice, for all the world to hear, that the time had 
come for this long line of prophecy to end, and the 
prophecy was fulfilled. The universality of this 
movement is in harmony with the manner in which 
it was announced, with a loud voice, as when a lion 
roareth. This book was to be sealed up to the time 
of the end, not at the end. This interpretation was 
made about 1838, or perhaps a little earlier. Thus 
by such feeble instrumentality was the message 
carried to the remotest corners of the earth. 

The cry that the angel made with a lion voice 
was that " time shall be no longer." This cannot 
mean, as some have interpreted it to mean, that time 
on earth should cease with this proclamation, or that 
the world should come to an end, for the next verse 
speaks of the days of the voice of the seventh angel, 
which was yet to take place. And the seventh 
trumpet may be many years in sounding. It must 
mean that the prophetic time should extend no 



THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION. 121 

longer, or the long period of Daniel's prophecy- 
would terminate. Henry, in his commentary on 
this passage, says: "There should be no longer 
delay in fulfilling the predictions of this book. 7 ' 

The instruction given to John in regard to the 
little book further sustains the views we have taken : 
" Go and take the little book, which is open in the 
hand of the angel, which standeth upon the sea and 
upon the earth. And I went unto the angel and 
said, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, 
Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly 
bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. 
And I took the little book out of the angel's hand 
and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as 
honey, and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was 
bitter." 

John in the vision represents the Christian people 
who should be actors in the scene. How well was 
this fulfilled in the career of Mr. Miller and his as- 
sociates ! It would seem that no prophecy ever had 
a more significant fulfilment. Those who became 
convinced of the correctness of Mr. Miller's calcula- 
tions were so inspired by the new discovery that 
many of them did not stop to consider whether he 
was also correct in the event to take place at the 
end of this time. This made their disappointment 
more bitter. 

John says : " In my mouth it was sweet as honey." 
How fitly this symbolizes the triumphant course of 
the Miilerites. How sweet to their minds was the 
ease with which they made converts to their theory. 
No one could find any arguments to overthrow their 
theory as to the time when the twenty-three nun- 



122 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

dred days should expire. Some even ran away 
from the meetings for fear they would be converted 
to Mr. Miller's doctrine. It was one continuous 
scene of joy and rejoicing, like the triumphal march 
of a conquering army. It was a joyful time for 
them when the message announcing the end of the 
world made such commotion among all classes of 
society. Mr. Miller rose from obscurity to fame as 
if by magic. Invitations to lecture came to him 
from all parts of the country. He delivered about 
three thousand lectures on the end of the world and 
was greeted with enthusiasm wherever he went. 
Kevivals of religion were witnessed in all the 
country, and it seemed to them that the millennium 
had come. They were ready to exclaim with the 
Apostles, " even the devils are subject to us." As 
the time drew near the interest increased. It was 
to them sweet as honey. 

Then 1844 came, and many got their ascension 
robes ready, waiting to hear the sound of Gabriel's 
horn. But the year passed, and no signs of the end. 
Then the thought came to them with stinging force, 
We have made a mistake. And how bitter was the 
disappointment when the time passed and the end 
did not come ! Mr. Miller did not long survive the 
disappointment. How significantly does this fulfil 
the angel's prediction, "It shall make thy belly 
bitter." 

This angel message is thrown in between the 
sixth and seventh trumpets, and is explanatory of 
the message of the seventh trumpet, which is yet to 
sound. That trumpet announces the universal 
triumph of the gospel. 



THE ANGEL PROCLAMATION 123 

As this message comes in just before the last 
trumpet, it shows that it has a close relation to it. 
It reveals something which is to be an agent in 
bringing in the universal reign of the Kedeemer, an- 
nounced in the seventh trumpet. In the seventh 
verse of this chapter, before the message is finished, 
he says : " But in the days of the voice of the seventh 
angel, when he shall begin to sound the mystery of 
God shall be finished." The seventh trumpet may 
continue to sound for a long time, but the mystery 
of God should be finished in the beginning of this 
trumpet. 

In order more fully to comprehend the connection 
of this message with the seventh trumpet we will 
notice the meaning of the " mystery of God." 
In Eph. i. 9, 10, we read : " Having made known 
unto us the mystery of His will, according to His 
good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself. 
That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he 
might gather together in one all things in Christ, 
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, 
even in Him." 

Here the mystery of his will was the power of the 
gospel to subdue all things, and to bring them in 
one in Christ. Here the unifying power of the 
gospel is clearly set forth. Also in the third chapter, 
4, 5, 6 : " Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand 
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in 
other ages was not made known unto the sons of 
men, as it is now revealed unto his holy Apostles 
and prophets by the spirit. That the Gentiles 
should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and 
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel." 



124 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

Here the mystery of Christ is said to be the power 
of the gospel to bring in the Gentiles to the one fold 
of God's people. From these and other passages we 
learn that the mystery of God was the revelation of 
Christ to the world as a saviour, and the conquering 
and unifying power of the gospel. 

The first grand display of this mystery, or the 
power of the gospel to conquer prejudice, was when 
Cornelius and his house were converted. Knowing 
the great prejudice of the Jews against the Gentiles, 
God had prepared Peter for that event by the vision 
of clean and unclean beasts, and commanded him to 
slay and eat. But Peter refused, like Christians when 
urged to join the union gospel feast. " Not so, Lord, 
for I have never eaten anything that is common or un- 
clean." But when this was repeated three times he 
was convinced that the hand of God was in it, and 
how soon his prejudice was removed. This leads us 
to hope that when Christians see the hand of God 
in Christian union they will not call it unclean, but, 
like Peter, will yield and say to the union move- 
ment that is waiting at the gate, " I am ready." 

"When Peter related these events to the church at 
Jerusalem their astonishment knew no bounds. At 
first we imagine they replied to him as did a vener- 
able Congregational minister in Iowa to the writer, 
after having presented to him the cause of Christian 
union. He remained silent for a moment, then lifted 
up his eyes and exclaimed, " Preposterous /" But 
after Peter had concluded his narrative they saw 
that God was in the work, and how soon they were 
satisfied, and exclaimed, " Now we know of a truth 
that God is no respecter of persons. Then hath. 



THE ANGEL PUOCLAMATION. 125 

God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto 
life." 

The prejudice of the Christian churches to each 
other is perhaps just as strong as that existing be- 
tween the Jews and Gentiles. That was conquered 
by the gospel which was called the mystery of God. 
Then the next great exhibition of this mystery of God 
will be to subdue the prejudice between the divided 
churches, and bring them all into one, so there shall 
be one fold and one shepherd. This last victory 
was to be just as the seventh angel was beginning to 
sound. Hence, the propriety of inserting this angel 
message just before the seventh trumpet, which is 
to make the announcement that it is done. And 
the voices in heaven said : " The kingdoms of this 
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and 
His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever." 
The mystery of God was to be finished in the " days 
of the voice of the seventh angel, when He shall be- 
gin to sound, as He hath declared by His servants 
the prophets." That was declared by the prophet 
Daniel as the event to take place at the end of the 
twenty-three hundred days. 

And now we may expect to see this prophecy 
fulfilled, and the world will witness the unifying 
power of the gospel which was predicted as the 
finishing work of the mystery of God. There is no 
greater mystery to the unbelieving world than to 
see prejudice and ill feeling of long standing among 
professed Christians turned to love and fellowship 
by the gospel of Christ. God is about to show to 
the sectarian churches the mystery of God, and the 
unifying power of the gospel in breaking the iron 



log GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

bonds of sectarian prejudice. God is about to open 
the heavens and let down the grand exhibition of 
His design for the unity of His churches, as He did 
to Peter in the sheet of clean and unclean beasts. 

The churches will at first cry out, " Not so, Lord, 
for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. 
I have never taken the Lord's supper with any other 
church. I do not believe in baptism by pouring or 
sprinkling, therefore the Presbyterians and Con- 
gregationalists are unclean. I don't believe in the 
doctrine of election and foreordination, therefore the 
Presbyterians are unclean. I don't like so much 
ecclesiastical machinery, therefore the Methodists 
are unclean. I don't like to have the church named 
after "Wesley, therefore the Wesleyans are unclean. 
I don't like to have the church called after Luther, 
therefore the Lutherans are unclean. I don't believe 
in singing human productions in worship, therefore 
those churches who sing such songs are unclean." 

But God is opening the heavens and letting down 
this mixed multitude to our view, and saying: 
" "What God hath cleansed call not thou common or 
unclean." Come out from the barren pastures of 
sectarian bondage and feast your souls on the love 
and Christian fellowship of the United Christian 
Church. 



THE SEVEN THUNDERS. 12? 



CHAPTEK XIII. 

THE SEVEN THUNDERS. 

"And when he had cried the seven thunders 
uttered their voices. And when the seven thun- 
ders had uttered their voices I was about to write ; 
and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 
Seal up those things which the seven thunders 
uttered, and write them not." 

Perhaps no part of this prophecy has given more 
trouble to commentators than the seven thunders. 
It occupies a very conspicuous position in this vision. 
It must symbolize something of great importance 
to the Christian Church, or else it would not have 
been given. Probably the reason so little attention 
has been directed to it is the fact that in our com- 
mon version the definite article the is omitted and 
rendered "when he had cried seven thunders uttered 
their voices." As it reads seven thunders uttered 
their voices it was supposed that it meant the sound 
of seven thunders was heard, having some connection 
in some way with the seven trumpets. 

But when we read it as it is in the original Greek, 
the seven thunders uttered their voices, it changes 
the meaning entirely. It either implies that it 
refers to something well understood or something 
that would be understood by the description when 
it was pointed out Benzel supposes that it refers 



128 GOD 'S MESSENG ERS. 

to some Jewish opinion, but says that he has not 
been able to find a vestige of it in Lightfoot, or 
Schoettgen, or Mosheim. 

The new version supplies this omission, and makes 
it read the seven thunders uttered their voices. 
Many commentators ignore the subject altogether, 
and say that as John was not permitted to tell us 
what they said, it is useless for us to try to find out 
anything about them. 

The most unreasonable suggestion we have met 
with on the subject is in Dr. Wheaton's commentary. 
He says: "John heard seven thunders, and was 
about to translate them into human language — a 
thing he could not do — and the voice from heaven 
arrested him in trying to do an impossibility." 
This, we think, is making a burlesque of Eevelation. 
if we concede John to be an intelligent man we 
must not interpret his actions to be that of an idiot. 

There is nothing more clearly to be seen than 
that the seven thunders uttered an intelligent mes- 
sage that John understood, for he was about to 
record it. Mr. Barnes makes this remark: "The 
reason for the insertion of the article the must there- 
fore be found in some pre-eminence which the seven 
thunders had, in some well-known fact, about them ; 
in something which would at once suggest them 
when they were mentioned — as when we speak of 
the sun, the moon, the stars, though they might not 
have been distinctly referred to before; it may be 
used in a specific sense as denoting something that 
would be well understood by applying the number 
seven to it." 

This message was so important that a voice from 



TEE SEVEN THUNDERS. 129 

heaven instructed John in relation to it. The Greek 
signifies they spake their own voices or message — 
that is, voices peculiar to themselves. Mede very 
justly remarks on the term "write them not:" 
" Keep silence, because it was not designed that the 
meaning should be known then, but should be dis- 
closed at some future time." It is evident that the} T 
were a group of people, for none other could speak 
in human language so that John could understand 
it, and there was something about them or in their 
message that caused John to name them the seven 
thunders. 

In giving an explanation of this angel message 
we cannot reasonably omit to notice the seven 
thunders, and show some event of which they are 
symbols. Another thing we must keep in mind is 
that they are in close proximity to the angel procla- 
mation, for John intended to record what they 
uttered before he had told what the message was. 
So that in looking for the thing symbolized we must 
find it soon after the disappointment in 1844. 

Half a century has passed since that time, so that 
it is too late now to look for something in the future 
to represent it. As they uttered their voices imme- 
diately after the cry of the angel, it is made, as Mr. 
Barnes saj T s, as a response to that message, and we 
think it is made as a protest to the angel message. 

The task before us now is to find a company of 
people that will answer the description that appeared 
on the stage of action soon after the disappointment 
in 1844, who had some characteristic about them or 
in their teaching which caused John to name them 
the seven thunders. We cannot believe that this 



130 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

vision would have been given to John unless it wa&' 
intended for some good to the church ; to believe 
otherwise would be trifling with revelation. If it 
can never be understood it is of no use to the 
Christians, or to anybody else. If, then, it was of 
no use to the early Christians, and has not been 
since, for we have no knowledge that it has ever 
been so applied in any way, either for the comfort 
or upbuilding of the Christian faith, we must look 
for something in the present or future to answer to 
the description made known in the vision. 

During, the excitement about the end of the world 
there was no distinctive church of the Advent faith, 
but many believers in the doctrine were found in all 
the churches. But when the time passed and the 
earth was not cleansed by the final conflagation, 
they dismissed the subject from their minds, think- 
ing the whole thing was a delusion. Mr. Miller died 
about four years after this, never faltering in the 
belief that his chronology was correct, but where 
the mistake was he could not tell. He died in the 
triumph of the Christian faith. 

Josiah Litch, a prominent writer in the Advent 
movement, said: "The chronology of the period of 
twenty-three hundred days has passed, according to 
the best light to be obtained on the subject, and 
where the discrepancy is I am unable to decide, but 
of this we shall know more in due time. 

" God is His own interpreter, 
And He will make it plain." 

But there were some more persistent than the 
masses, who set to work to find a way out of the 



TEE SEVEN THUNDERS. 131 

difficulty. It was apparent that a mistake had been 
made in one or both of the following points: either 
the period of twenty- three hundred days did not end 
at the expected time, or the cleansing of the sanctuary 
was not to be the conflagration at the coming of 
Christ. While there was a possibility of their hav- 
ing been mistaken on both these points, a mistake 
on either one would be sufficient to account for the 
fact that the Lord did not then appear. 

This class of believers in the Advent faith, on a 
careful survey of the whole subject, became im- 
pressed with the strength and harmony of the argu- 
ments on the chronology ; felt satisfied that the mis- 
take was made in the subject of the sanctuary and 
its cleansing. Then the difficulty stared them in 
face. What is meant by cleansing the sanctuary % 
What event is now taking place in the world that 
can in any way answer the prophecy ? They could 
not see any signs of a moral cleansing going on, but 
the reverse seemed to be true. Wickedness abounded 
on every hand, perhaps enhanced by the lull after 
the moral cyclone. 

In this dilemma they invented the theory that the 
cleansing mentioned by Daniel was not to be clone 
in an earthly sanctuary, but one in heaven, of which 
the Jewish sanctuary, which was set up in the 
wilderness, was a model. And the cleansing of this 
sanctuary in heaven began in 1844, and is still going 
on, which they call the investigative judgment. 
Although they do not set any time or day in the 
year for the end of the world, they have been teach- 
ing for half a century that it will come in this gen- 
eration. Those who mads this theory did not think 



132 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

it would take the Almighty so long to find out who 
were entitled to eternal life. They thought one 
generation would be ample time. The length of 
this delay is beginning to be a great strain on their 
structure, which must soon cause it to fall. 

Having settled this point they rallied their forces 
together for aggressive movement. The Seventh- 
day doctrine became connected with the Advent 
movement in 1844, the very year predicted by this 
angel proclamation. 

Mrs. Preston, a Seventh-day Baptist from the 
State of New York, moved to Washington, New 
Hampshire, where there was an Advent church. 
From them she received the doctrine of the soon 
coming of Christ, and in return instructed them in 
reference to the seventh-day Sabbath. This was in 
1844. Nearly the whole church immediately began 
the observance of the seventh day. ' This was the 
first Seventh-day Advent organization. This doc- 
trine began immediately to be agitated among the 
Adventists, and in a short time they all began to 
observe the seventh day. 

Among the early advocates of the doctrine was 
Elder Joseph Bates, a sea captain. He published the 
first tract on the subject in 1845. Then came Elder 
James White and wife ; he was a man of good intel- 
lect, and had charge of the Seventh-day Adventist 
publishing house. Then came Elder J. 1ST. Andrews, 
( who wrote much on the seventh day, and wore him- 
/, ' self out in the work. They now number about 
*Q\ ,<j thirty thousand, with three or four hundred min 
** |4 users and one thousand or more churches. They 
show much wisdom in the large us§ they make of 



THE SEVEN THUNDERS. 133 

the printing press. They have a publishing house 
in Battle Creek, Michigan, worth $150,520 ; also one 
in Oakland, California, worth $150,000. The num- 
ber of pages printed at these two houses in one year 
is 43,866,473. They have colleges in Battle Creek, 
Michigan, in Massachusetts, in Nebraska, California, 
and in Washington. From these statistics we can 
see the great work they are carrying on. 

The burden of their message from Australia to 
Sweden, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 
in all their books and sermons, is the seventh-day 
Sabbath. If you take the number seven from their 
creed you take all the thunder out of their system. 
So they may be appropriately called the seven 
thunders. They began, as we have seen, in the year 
of the fulfilment of the angel proclamation, and 
there was no other sect that began at that time that 
could in any way answer the description of the 
seven thunders. 

Some years since the writer became acquainted 
with a carpenter in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, who was 
strong in the Advent faith. He said, as he was at 
work on Sunday where many people were passing 
on the way to church : " I made all the noise I 
could." I asked him why he liked to disturb so 
many as they were going to church. He replied, 
" They are first-day worshippers, I will thunder seven 
in their ears with my saw and hammer." He was 
literally one of the seven thunders. Mr. Barnes 
says, " It must denote something that would be well 
understood by applying the number seven to it." 

The number seven is the distinguishing feature of 
the sect, in which they antagonize the other churches. 



134 &0D 'S MESSENGERS, 

The life and vitality of the church is controversy ; 
when this dies out in many places the church dies 
out. Advent churches were organized in many 
places in Iowa, about twenty years since, with a 
large membership, but many of them are now very 
feeble, and some disbanded. Elder Bates, president 
of the general conference of the Seventh-day Ad- 
ventists, said he thought they made a mistake in 
their first work in having too much of the fighting 
element. 

We are not permitted to know just what the 
seven thunders uttered, but we may suppose it was 
the same protest we hear from the Adventists all 
over the land to-day. Not the first hut the seventh. 

From the position we have taken it is easy to 
understand the reason why John was not permitted 
to record what the seven thunders uttered. Had 
the protest against the Lord's day been recorded, 
what the result would have been to the infant church 
no one can tell. There was at that time a large and 
influential sect, called the Ebionites, who professed 
the Christian religion but taught many Jewish 
customs, among them the Jewish Sabbath of the 
seventh day, instead of the Lord's day ; they were 
called Judaizing teachers, and they gave the early 
Christians much trouble. They would probably 
have received the message of the seven thunders as 
a voice from heaven protesting against the change of 
the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the 
week, and the result might have been the destruction 
of the Christian Sabbath altogether. The church was 
then in its infancy, and could not so well withstand 
agitation as it can now. So here we have the key 



THE SEVEN THUNDERS, i$5 

to unlock the vexed question which has so long per- 
plexed the world, why John was not permitted to 
write the message of the seven thunders. 

We understand that John received two distinct 
commands in relation to the message of the seven 
thunders. One was not to write it, and the other to 
seal it up. We have already stated that to seal up 
meant to make it obscure, so as not to be easily * 
understood. Thus the prophecy in regard to cleans- 
ing the sanctuary was sealed up by separating the 
vision from the date of the beginning. And we also 
showed good reasons, for the angel said, " It shall 
be for many days ;" and it would put the Christian 
church to useless perplexity for all these long years 
as to the event that was to take place at the time 
of the end. And when the time came and passed 
and no sign of anything unusual, infidels would have 
said, Now where is your great prophecy about cleans- 
ing the sanctuary ? — it is all a total failure. But as it 
was sealed up and made obscure no such charge 
could be made about the prophecy, and the failure 
was laid to the mistake of man. This throws some 
light on the subject before us. 

John was commanded to seal up the message of 
the seven thunders. We do not know that the name 
seven thunders was given to John, but he named 
them from the message they uttered, just as he rep- 
resented the scene in the sixth trumpet, " Out of 
their mouth issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone." 
This was as it appeared to him in the vision. So 
John gave the name of the seven thunders from 
something they uttered in their message. If he had 
not been instructed to seal it up, as well as not to 



136 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

write it, he would most likely have named them the 
seventh-day thunders, but this would have been but 
little better than to record what they said, for every 
one knows that the seventh day is the Jewish Sab- 
bath. The Ebionites would at once have concluded 
that their message was a protest against the change 
from the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day. 
But John sealed it up, as he was commanded to do, 
by calling them the seven thunders, which rendered 
it so obscure that it would not be understood until 
they actually appeared on the stage of action. 

Many things in Kevelation are obscure, and 
probably will not be known until they are fulfilled. 
The prophecy of the destruction of Babylon says : 
"And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great 
millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with 
violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown 
down, and shall be found no more at all." We learn 
from this that Babylon, or the power represented by 
that symbol, will not be destroyed by moral means, 
and that its destruction will be terrible and com- 
plete, but how it will be done no one can tell ; it 
may be by the destructive engines of war, or by a 
cyclone, or an earthquake. But those who live to 
witness it will doubtless see the fitness of the 
symbol. 

Some may say, if it was not best for the church 
to know the message uttered by the seven thunders, 
why was it necessary for the vision to appear at all 1 
In reply we would say : First it was necessary foi 
John to know the mind of God on the subject of the 
Lord's day, and he doubtless made good use of this 
knowledge, for he is the only Apostle who speaks of 



THE SEVEN THUNDERS. 137 

the Lord's day. He probably wrote the preface to 
the Eevelation after he was released from banish- 
ment and at his home in Ephesus, when the vision of 
the seven thunders was fresh in his mind ; so he tells 
us he saw the vision on the Lord's day. We find 
also that the co-laborers with John zealously con- 
tended for the Lord's day, as we have before noticed. 
This may have been the great agency in overcoming 
the Ebionites,for we hear but little about them after 
this time. 

And secondly, it was important for us in this day 
to know the divine will in regard to the Christian 
Sabbath. Thus we see that this body of Seventh- 
day Adventists appeared just at the right time, and 
the character of their teaching corresponds well 
with the description given in the vision, and nothing 
else could fill the description at that time. And if 
Mede is correct in his remarks that John was not 
permitted to write the message because it was not 
intended that the world should then know it, but it 
would be known in the future, we may now find a 
solution of the mystery that has puzzled the world 
for eighteen hundred years. The message of the 
seven thunders comes in as a protest to the angel 
proclamation, just as the Seventh-day Adventists 
to-day antagonize the other churches by denouncing 
the Christian Sabbath and proclaiming the seventh- 
day Sabbath. There is no essential difference in 
their creed from the other churches except this, and 
when they come into the union fold, with all their 
push and zeal, they will be a valuable auxiliary to 
the Christian work, and hasten to accomplish the 



138 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

first angel message to preach the gospel to all 
people. 

There is no evidence that this vision of the seven 
thunders was understood in the past history of the 
church, for no commentator has pointed out the 
thing represented by this symbol worthy of notice. 
Then if it is not now fulfilled it will be at some 
future time, for it would be against the wisdom of 
God and economy of His works to seal up a book 
that was never to be opened. We cannot believe 
that so important a vision will never be understood. 

Henry, in his commentary on this vision, says : 
"He was to conceal what the seven thunders uttered 
because the time had not yet come." 



THE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 139 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of 
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach 
unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Saying 
with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, 
for the hour of His judgment is come ; and worship 
Him that made the heaven and earth, and the sea, 
and the fountains of waters. 1 ' — Rev. xiv. 6, 7. 

In order fully to understand the visions in Revela- 
tion we must bear in mind that the primary object 
of this book is to point out the principal epochs in 
the history of the Christian church. It was written 
"to show unto his servants the things that must 
shortly come to pass." The political history show- 
ing the rise and fall of empires is given to guide us 
in following the chronology of events in history. 
Six of the seven trumpets represent six epochs in 
the political world that can clearly be pointed out. 
There is an essential agreement in regard to the 
chronology of these events by Keith, Barnes, and 
many others on the age of the world they represent, 
differing only in minor details. The first four 
trumpets represent chiefly the downfall of the 
Roman Empire. The events in these trumpets are 



140 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

clearly pointed out in Gibbon's " Decline and Fall 
of the Roman Empire." It is the last thing that 
the infidel historian would have thought of, that his 
history should have been used to explain Eevelation. 
Mr. Keith makes this remark: "None could elucidate 
more clearly, or expound them more fully, than the 
task has been performed by Gibbon. The chapters 
of the skeptical philosopher that treat directly of 
the matter need but a text to be prefixed and a few 
unholy words to be blotted out to form a series of 
expository lectures on the eighth and ninth chapters 
of Revelation. Little or nothing is left for the 
professed interpreter to do but to point to the pages 
of Gibbon/' 

The fourth trumpet leaves imperial Rome in its 
downfall without an emperor, a consul, or a senate ; 
and in the fifth trumpet the scene is changed. The 
overthrow of the Roman Empire opened the door 
for the Mohammedan power. There is a uniform 
agreement among expositors that the fifth trumpet 
applies to the Saracens and Turks. Constantinople 
was besieged for the first time by Chosroes, King of 
Persia. 

The sixth trumpet represents the Mohammedan 
supremacy, and brings the history down to the first 
half of the nineteenth century. We are now liv- 
ing in the interval between the sixth and seventh 
trumpets. The seventh trumpet is probably soon to 
begin to sound, for it is said the mystery of God 
shall be finished when the seventh trumpet shall 
begin to sound. 

John stops recording the chronological history of 
the world to notice other scenes to take place before 



TEE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE.. 141 

the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and introduces 
the angel with the little book, which begins a new 
series of visions of important epochs in the church. 
This angel announced that the time had expired, 
or in his own language, " time shall be no longer." 
The time when the sanctuary should be cleansed is 
at hand. 

Then the next angel, in the fourteenth chapter, 
gives us an insight into the means to be used in 
cleansing the sanctuary in the proclamation, " the 
hour of His judgment is come." The time had come 
when the hand of God was to be seen in the work, 
and this will be more marked each year as God's 
judgment is visited on the sectarian churches. 

And this is the message of the first angel. "We 
call this the first angel of the series of three men- 
tioned in this chapter, although John did not num 
ber the first and second ; but the third is mentioned, 
and a third implies a first and second. John calls 
it another angel, because he had seen similar angels 
before. 

These three messages have a close relation to each 
other, giving different events in the history repre- 
senting the different stages in the progress of this 
cleansing work. This series of three is as clearly 
marked as are the seven trumpets, and they follow 
each other in chronological order. A new epoch of 
events is introduced by this angel making the proc- 
lamation. The hour of his judgment is come. 

The burden of these messages is the fall of Babylon 
and the events preceding it. The first angel an- 
nounces the beginning, or initiatory measures, of this 
fall, or the agency to accomplish it, namely, the ever- 



142 00 J) l S MESSENGERS. 

lasting gospel. This fall is the result of the procla- 
mation of this gospel, and reveals to us the mystery 
of godliness. The second angel simply announces 
that the mission of the first angel had been fulfilled. 
The judgment of God had been visited on the sec- 
tarian churches, and had cut off the supernumerary 
churches, and cleared the way, and enlarged the 
funds for the spread of the gospel, and it had been 
carried as on the swift wings of an angel, and been 
preached to all classes and conditions of men on the 
earth without regard to rank, sect, color, or char- 
acter, and the result is, Babylon has fallen. 

An important question for us to decide is what 
period of the world's history does this angel repre- 
sent. He has the everlasting gospel ; it is no new 
gospel, but the same gospel that Paul, and John, 
and all the Apostles preached. It was called ever- 
lasting because its truths have always existed, and 
they are eternal truths which will forever remain 
unchanged, not being subject to fluctuations like 
human creeds. The redeemed will always dwell 
with rapture on the everlasting gospel. 

This angel cannot represent the ordinary advance- 
ment of the gospel, for all these visions in Revelation 
point out some new development or change in the 
ordinary history of the Christian church. This 
angel then must represent some signal development 
of God's power in the affairs of the church, some 
new movement which is to carry the gospel with 
great rapidity to all the world. 

It cannot refer to the first dispensation of the 
gospel by the Apostles, for the gospel had already 
been preached until it had reached many countries 



TEE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 143 

before John saw the vision. About half a century- 
had passed and witnessed a signal triumph of the 
gospel. John says the Revelation was to show to 
his servants the things which would shortly come 
to pass, not the things that are passed. He was 
charged by the angel to " write the things which 
thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
things which shall be hereafter." 

This message cannot apply to the early history of 
the church, for there was no noted event that took 
place in the early history of the church of which 
this could be a symbol. Papal supremacy soon 
obscured the light of Christianity, so that symbol 
could not have had his fulfilment prior to the Refor- 
mation. And it could not have been fulfilled in the 
Reformation, for that work was confined to a small 
portion of the country, it was not a world-wide 
movement. But this was to be universal to every 
nation, kindred, tongue, and people. And this be- 
longs to a series of angel messages that was to take 
place after the sounding of the sixth trumpet — just 
the period we occupy to-day. 

A favorite theory with some is that this angel 
represents the missionary societies. Some ministers 
take this for a text from which to preach a mission- 
ary sermon. The description of the angel [is very 
appropriate for such a discourse. " Having the 
everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on 
the earth," but the vision has no application what- 
ever, for the burden of his cry, and the real object 
of his appearing, is to proclaim the hour of his judg- 
ment is come, and no missionary can make this pro- 
clamation. Thus we must conclude that this angel 



144 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

does not represent the missionary societies, for there 
is no analogy in the leading feature of his message. 
Then the missionary work is not a unit, as we have 
before shown ; every church has its own society, 
which is separate and distinct in every feature from 
the society of other churches. This is one of the 
great obstacles which this angel is to remove, which 
will result in the fall of Babylon. But in this vision 
the gospel is represented as being carried by an 
angel flying in mid-air, where nothing could obstruct 
his course, and it would be carried with great speed. 
In order to symbolize the conflicting missionary 
societies there should have been a company of 
angels, and they should all carry swords to symbolize 
the warfare they were to wage with each other. 

As this angel message is a continuation of the 
same theme as the angel with the little book, which 
was to announce the cleansing of the sanctuary, or 
the union of all the Christian churches, this angel 
must symbolize the movement for a united Christian 
church, which is to carry the glad news of salvation 
to every nation and people on the globe. That this 
angel fitly represents the union movement we shall 
endeavor to show. His flying in the air indicates 
that he will meet with no obstacle incident to travel 
on the land. No river or mountain can hinder his 
progress. 

If the clog of sectarianism were removed from 
the churches the gospel could in a short time be 
carried to every people and nation in the world. 
Heathen lands are now ready to receive the gospel. 
Much patient labor has been done in preparing the 
way, by building churches, and translating the Bible 



THE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 145 

into the native languages. All this work has been 
done by self-denying missionaries, and if all the 
churches would act in harmony the world would be 
startled by the great revival of Christianity all over 
the world. There is a similarity in the manner in 
which the proclamation is made by this angel and 
the one with the little book. He cried as when a lion 
roareth, and this angel cried with a loud voice, 
indicating that it will be heard in every part of the 
earth. 

The first sentence of the message is a rebuke to 
the sectarian churches. " Fear God and give glory 
to Him." The churches do not do this : they give 
glory to men, even in the name of their church. 
They are named in honor of some man who was 
instrumental in founding the church or creed, to 
whom they give the glory, and perpetuate his glory 
in the name or doctrines of the church. The angel's 
injunction is to give glory to God, rather than to 
your church founder, or creed, or human doctrine. 

The name of the church is not of such small import 
as some seem to think. We must remember the 
significance of a church name and what it implies. 

Christ said it was His church. Then if He has 
named it no man has a right to give any other name, 
and in doing so man is honored and God is dis- 
honored. We cannot avoid the conclusion that 
there is much in a name. The names of men often 
decide their earthly destiny. 

Moses did not enter the promised land because he 
used the pronoun I, instead of the Lord. It was a 
small thing, as some say about church names, but 
in this he gave glory to himself instead of God, 



146 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

which shut him out of the promised land. And 
may not many on account of not giving glory to 
God in the name of their church be shut out of the 
kingdom. God pronounced His judgment because 
they gave glory to men, and not to Him who made 
the fountains of waters. It is not a small matter 
when Christ said, "On this rock I will build my 
church, and you say my church is Wesley, or Luther, 
or Methodist, or Presbyterian, or Baptist, or Epis- 
copal, or Congregational. 

The angel will say to such, with a loud voice, 
" Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of 
His judgment is come, and worship Him that made 
heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains 
of waters." The name of the church has a wonder- 
ful effect on the members. 

I once attended a Baptist church where I was a 
stranger. After the sermon ah elderly man came 
to me, and with his face beaming with smiles he 
grasped my hand, and looking in my face said to 
me : " Are you a Baptist ?" I replied, " No, I am a 
Congregationalism" He dropped my hand as if he 
had hold of a snake. His countenance instantly 
changed and the smile vanished. The name Con- 
gregational had a similar effect on him to that 
of the drug on Dr. Jekyli and Mr. Hyde. These 
church names keep up church rivalry, and foster 
enmity, and hinder Christian fellowship. God's 
judgment is now resting on all such churches, and 
He is speaking to them by this Christian union 
movement, and saying worship God. 

Some church members fear the church discipline 
more than they do God, 



THE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 147 

A lady in Crawfordsville, Iowa, read that beauti- 
ful hymn of Ray Palmer : 

" My faith looks up to Thee. 
Thou Lamb of Calvary." 

She was so much impressed with the sentiment of 
the hymn, and her heart was so filled with a Saviour's 
love that she wept because her church would not let 
her sing it in social worship. She longed to sing of 
redeeming love, but she could not find the name of 
J esus in her church psalmody. She feared the church 
more than she did Him who made the earth and the 
fountains of waters. 

The reason given is the hour of His judgment is 
come. This cannot mean the general judgment at 
the last day, for the gospel was to be preached to 
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. 
This great work is to be done by man, for God lias 
committed this work to him. It is a great work, 
and must consume a long time in its accomplish- 
ment. It would not do for them to preach that the 
final judgment had come, and probation ended. The 
time is definite, an hour is but a small part of a 
day ; it is equivalent to saying, His judgment has 
come. Even the Seventh-day Adventists do not 
interpret it to mean the end of the world, although 
they are looking for that event at any time. But 
they call it the investigative judgment which has 
been going on for fifty years and is not yet finished. 

We think it is God's judgment against some form 
of iniquity in the church that is hindering its pro- 
gress. Similar language is often used in reference 
to certain forms of iniquity. In Romans i. 32, it 



148 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

says : " "Who, knowing the judgment of God, that 
they who commit such things are worthy of death." 
And in I Tim. v. 24 : " Some men's sins are open be- 
forehand, going before to judgment." And in Rom. 
ii. 2 : " But we are sure that the judgment of God 
is according to truth against them which commit 
such things." And in Eev. xviii. 10, saying : " Alas, 
alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city ! for 
in one hour is thy judgment come." This sin, we 
think, is sectarian apostacy, called by the second 
angel Babylon. 

There may have been a time in the infancy of the 
church after the Reformation, as it was just emerg- 
ing from the Romish church, when the divisions 
were much more justifiable than now, that there was 
need of reform. D' Aubigne says Luther held many 
doctrines that would shock the people of the present 
day. They saw the need of reform, and thought a 
division of the church the only means to accomplish 
it. They had less light than we have now; the 
printing press was limited in its influence. The 
apology for division in the church in its formative 
state does not now exist. The vital doctrines of the 
gospel are established and cannot be changed. 

There is no truth more clearly taught in the Bible 
than that a man is judged according to the light he 
has, and that within his reach. When Paul saw the 
idolatry at Athens he said : " The time of this igno- 
rance God winked at, but now commands all men 
everywhere to repent." Idolatry was no less a sin 
formerly than at that time, but on account of their 
want of knowledge God passed it over lightly. 
But now light had come and Christ was preached 



TEE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 149 

to them, and they would be held responsible for 
their idolatry. 

There was a time, half a century or more ago, 
when a man could use intoxicating liquor as a 
beverage, and still have a clear conscience, and stand 
with an unblemished character in the church. The 
great evil of intemperance was not unfolded, and as 
liquor stimulated the system and put them in a con- 
dition of more satisfaction with themselves and the 
world, they thought it was a good thing. The writer 
can well remember, when a boy about six years old, 
Rev. Ethan Osborn, his namesake, came to our house 
on a pastoral visit, and the bottle was empty, and one 
of us was sent to Fairton, New Jersey, to have it 
filled to treat the pastor. It was then common for 
a minister to take a dram before going into the pul- 
pit; and they were good men, notwithstanding, and 
God blessed their labors. This habit did not affect 
their Christian character, for they had not the light 
we have on the evils of intemperance. "We could 
not now indulge in such habits and maintain our 
Christian integrity. 

We regard the sin of sectarianism in the same 
light. As so much light is being shed on the evils 
of divisions in the church, by ministers and the 
press, we believe the time will come, and that not far 
in the future, when a Christian cannot maintain his 
standing before God and man and give his influence 
to a sectarian church. We believe the hour of God's 
judgment is near, and will soon be manifested in 
those churches that turn a deaf ear to the union 
movement. Barrenness and dearth will prevail in 



150 GOD '8 MESSENGERS. 

these churches, and revivals will cease. Like the 
worshipers of Baal, who in their distress cried, " Oh, 
Baal, hear us!" they will in their forsaken condition 
call on God, but no answer will come. There may 
be some indications of God's judgment even now. 
Last year in forty-three hundred and ninety-five 
churches there were no additions by conversions. 
Nearly all the great revivals occur when the differ- 
ent churches unite. Mr. D. L. Moody and all the 
most successful evangelists will not hold revival 
meetings unless the churches will unite. In a town 
where the writer lived all the four churches, one 
after another, held revival meetings — first the Meth- 
odists, then the Disciples and Congregationalists — 
but with little success, having no converts except 
from the families of the church. The Baptists, see- 
ing the failure of all the other churches, sent to 
another State and procured the best man they had 
in the field. He labored hard with his great ability 
for three weeks, with but little success. If all the 
churches had been friendly enough to unite in the 
meetings there might have been a great work done, 
as there has been in other places. In times of igno- 
rance God may have winked at the sin of sectarian- 
ism, but now that light has come he commands all 
men to repent of this sin, or His judgment will over- 
take them. 

If this angel is not now flying in the heavens and 
crying the hour of his judgment is come, we think 
his voice will soon be heard. The signs of the times 
indicate it. The impression is on the minds of many 
Christians that some great display of God's mighty 



TBE FIRST ANGEL MESSAGE. 151 

power in reviving His cause in the world, and in 
bringing thousands into the fold, is near at hand. 
Many eminent Christian scholars and writers have 
expressed this sentiment, but no one has marked out 
the line of work, or the agency which God will 
bless for this end. General Booth, in his farewell 
address, said, " There is a prevalent feeling in the 
churches and among Bible students that something 
is going to happen, that God is going to come out 
of His place to work mighty things in answer to the 
longing desire for some great upheaval and great 
arising among the people. I wish He would come. 
I have prayed that He would rend the heavens and 
come down to help us." Mr. D. L. Moody has 
made similar remarks. We are told that God puts 
it into the minds of His people to do His will. 
Perhaps this is a divine impression. 

If this great upheaval is near at hand it is an 
interesting question what agency will be used to 
promote it % We can see nothing in all that man 
can do in this work so likely to be blessed in pro- 
ducing it as Christian union. 

There is nothing that stands so much in the way 
of the car of salvation as a divided church and 
rivalry among Christians. When this barrier is 
broken down it will let in such a flood of light from 
the great source of light and life that the people 
will stand in awe of the approaching splendor. 
Already we can see indications that this is maturing. 
God is wonderfully blessing union revival efforts. 
The people are turning to this as the only means to 
save the church from an ignominious defeat. The 



152 GOD 'S MESSENGEUS. 

result of this union would soon be felt all over the 
world, and skeptical men would feel the force of the 
influence and acknowledge that Jesus was the 
Messiah, the Son of God, and the world would soon 
be converted to Christianity, 



THE SECOND ANGEL MESSAGE. 153 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SECOND ANGEL MESSAGE. 

Rev. xiv. 8 : " And there followed another angel, 
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, 
because she made all nations drink of the wine of 
the wrath of her fornication." 

This is the first time Babylon is mentioned in 
Revelation. It plainly indicates the theme of these 
three angel messages. This cannot refer to ancient 
Babylon, for that splendid city had many years 
since fallen, as the prophet foretold, never more to 
be rebuilt. It must therefore symbolize mystic 
Babylon. The name Babylon means confusion, be- 
cause it was built near the site of the tower of Babel, 
where occurred the confusion of tongues. The word 
Babel, or Babylon, when used symbolically, means 
confusion. 

Most commentators apply the second angel mes- 
sage to the fall of papacy. But there is a great incon- 
sistency in this interpretation, for the message of 
the third angel is almost universally applied to the 
Romish beast. Can both of these visions apply to 
one and the same thing. It would be just as reason- 
able to make two or more of the seven trumpets 
refer to the same period and to the same events. If 
the second angel records the fall of the papal power, 



154 GOD'S MESSENGERS. 

why should the third angel give warning to the 
people against worshiping the beast, or receiving 
his mark in their foreheads. The warning comes too 
late if the papal power had already fallen. A 
similar angel is announced in the eighteenth chapter, 
who proclaims the fall of Babylon, which we think 
must refer to papacy. If then the second angel 
refers to the same Babylon why should the fourth 
angel have appeared and announced the same thing 
when Babylon had already fallen. And at the time 
of the proclamation of the fall of Babylon in the 
eighteenth chapter a voice was heard from heaven 
saying, " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
plagues." If this is the same Babylon spoken of by 
the second angel it would be too late to call on the 
people to come out if Babylon had already fallen. 
After a house has fallen it is too late to call on the 
people to come out. And John seemed to anticipate 
the probability that the mistake might be made of 
confounding the two, he calls this, referring to 
popery, Babylon the great. This term is not ap- 
plied by the second angel, and a marked distinction 
is kept up between them. 

Eo physical calamity was pronounced by the first 
fall of Babylon. It was a moral calamity, because 
she had made all nations drink of the wine of the 
wrath of her fornications, or apostacy from her law- 
ful spouse. But the second fall of Babylon was 
followed by the most direful calamity imaginable. 
Hence we conclude that this angel announces the 
downfall of Protestant Babylon, or sectarian 
apostacy. 



THE SECOND ANGEL MESSAGE. I55 

The first angel proclaims the rapid spread of the 
gospel by the United Christian Church, and the next 
angel proclaims that the work is done and Babylon 
had fallen. Where in ail the world can we find 
anything more fitly to represent Babylon or con- 
fusion than the rivalry among the different Christian 
sects ? We could not select a better term to express 
it than confusion. It is more apparent, because it 
is done in the name of the Prince of Peace. In 
churches laboring for the same end, the subjugation 
of the world to the dominion of Christ, we should 
look for harmony and concert of action, both mor- 
ally, financially, and organic — just as we see on the 
battlefield all officers and soldiers act in concert for 
the subjugation of the enemy. But it is not thus 
with the different Christian sects. They strive for 
supremacy, and seem sometimes to forget the enemy 
they are fighting. 

Is it any wonder that it is so hard for the heathen 
to understand the nature of the Christian religion 
amidst so much confusion. The only wonder is that 
Christianity has made so much progress as it has in 
heathen lands. A Presbyterian minister in Okla- 
homa found one of his Indian converts dead drunk. 
After he was sober the minister tried to show him 
his sin in getting drunk. He said to him: "You 
ought to be ashamed to be seen drunk, as you pro- 
fess to be a Christian." The Indian replied : "Uncas 
no Christian ; he only a Presbyterian." He did not 
think one had to be a Christian to be a Presby- 
terian. 

Most commentators consider the woman upon the 
scarlet-colored beast to represent the Church of 



156 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

Home. She is called the mother of harlots. If she 
is a mother she must have offspring. Who are her 
offspring if it is not the churches that came directly 
from the Church of Eome after the Keformation? 
They are the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, and the 
Presbyterians. The other churches are grand- 
daughters of the harlot. And there are many 
forms and titles of the Episcopal and Methodist 
churches borrowed from the Eoman Catholic 
Church, which show their relationship. 

And even our translation of the New Testament 
has a remnant of saint worship in the prefix of saint 
to the Apostles. It would be just as proper and 
just as Scriptural to say Doctor Paul, or Doctor 
Luke, as Saint Paul and Saint Luke, for doctor 
means a teacher, and we all regard Paul and Luke 
as teachers of theology, but either is adding to God's 
word, and John says if any one add to these things 
God will add to him the plagues that are written in 
this book. And some churches show their tendency 
to saint worship by leaving out Christ and calling 
their church after some great man who is their 
patron saint. The patron saint of the Methodist 
Church is Wesley. Many of their places of worship 
are Wesleyan chapels, their institutions of learning 
Wesleyan universities, and the Epworth League is 
called after the place where their patron saint lived. 
The patron saint of the Presbyterian Church is 
John Calvin, that of the Lutheran Church is Luther, 
and that of the Church of the Disciples is Alexander 
Campbell. 

The churches show their relation to the harlot in 
their apostacy from the original Church of Christ 



THE SECOND ANGEL MESSAGE. 157 

by their sectarian divisions. So they may justly 
be classed with Babylon, which the second angel 
declares has fallen. 

We cannot tell how soon it will come. It is a 
great city. There will be weeping and wailing 
when it comes. 



158 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

isaiah's peaceful reign. 

We shall close this volume with a more pleasing 
vision, which is generally called Isaiah's peaceful 
reign : " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and 
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the 
young lion and the fatling together, and a little 
child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear 
shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together ; 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the 
suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and 
the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocka- 
trice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." 

Many interpret this vision to represent the time 
when nations shall be at peace with each other, 
when they shall beat their swords into plowshares 
and their spears into pruning-hooks, and nations 
shall learn war no more. But the language will not 
admit of this interpetation ; for the prophet says, 
in concluding this vision : " They shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall 
be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters 
cover the sea." These symbols of strife and destruc- 
tion were to be found in God's holy mountain. This 



ISAIAH'S PEACEFUL REIGN. 159 

term holy mountain cannot by any legitimate inter- 
pretation be made to mean the world at large. A 
single instance cannot be found in the Bible where 
it is thus used. The law was given on a mountain. 
It is used as a symbol where God dispenses his bless- 
ings to his people. Daniel says : " O Lord, according 
to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine 
anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city 
Jerusalem, thy holy mountain." The church, then, 
or God's people, is represented by God's holy moun- 
tain. The church, then, is the place where we may 
look for a fulfilment of this vision. Is there any- 
thing in the churches in any way represented by 
these wild beasts and their quarrelsome nature? 
Can we answer in the negative? "We find many 
things in the churches that too well carry out the 
analogy. We sometimes see such expressions as this 
in print in regard to the different churches : " They 
are like a set of Kilkenny cats." Paul calls those 
who make disturbance in the church " wolves." He 
says: "For 1 know this, that after my departing 
shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not 
sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall 
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away 
disciples after them." 

One denomination will establish a church in a 
small town where there are already too many strug- 
gling churches, supported largely by foreign aid. 
This new church expects to build up their church by 
devouring from other churches, because they see 
some among them of their own brand. But these 
churches are all preaching the same gospel. The 
object of the new church is not to enlarge the gospel 



160 GOD 'S MESSENGERS. 

field. This is lost sight of, but they want to get a 
church of their own brand. This looks wolfish not 
sparing the flock. 

We shall not attempt to classify these animals in 
a personal way, perhaps nothing of the kind was in- 
tended by the prophet, but he only grouped together 
these animals and beasts of prey in their changed 
condition to give the Christians a vivid impression 
of the happy day that awaits the church. We re- 
joice to see that the unfriendly feelings between the 
churches is not so strong as it used to be. The time 
has been when we should be almost as much sur- 
prised to see a Presbyterian minister sitting in a 
pulpit with a Methodist minister as we should to see 
the wolf lie down with the lamb. And even now 
to see a Baptist minister with his flock partaking 
of the Lord's supper with a Methodist congregation 
would look like the lion and cow feeding together 
and their young ones lying down together. 

This happy day we hope is coming to the churches 
when there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in 
all God's holy mountain. Visions of the future 
pass before us, radiant with the sunlight of immortal 
glory. All the scenes of strife and turmoil have 
passed away. All the ills and woes of the afflicted 
church that disgraced her fair name have fled 
at the sight of the conquering Immanuel. All now 
is peace. 

The first angel messenger has finished his work, 
and God's judgments have executed the divine com- 
mand Babylon has fallen, that great city that 
made all nations drink of the wine of fornication of 
sectarian apostacy. Those who bewailed her down- 



ISAIAH'S PEACEFUL HEIGN. 161 

fall have ceased their lamentations. The tears of 
sorrow have been dried. All God's people dwell 
together in one fold, and their shepherd leads them. 

It made a great commotion among the churches. 
They built higher their walls and barred their gates 
to retain the flock, but their efforts were vain. . The 
handwriting on the walls said, " Thou art weighed 
in a balance and found wanting." 

Look down on the field of conflict. The lion and 
the wolf who have been fighting and devouring, not 
sparing the flock, but chasing their prey out into 
the cheerless fields of infidelity, have lost their 
ferocity and persecuting power, and now dwell 
together in harmony and love. 

Crash upon crash we hear the downfall of 
Babylon. Scattered all over the land are the frag- 
ments and ruins of the once opulent temples. But 
we look and behold a beautiful temple is rising in 
the midst of the disolation, fair and harmonious in 
all its parts — more beautiful than anything that 
has graced the earth since Christ walked the shores 
of Galilee. 

" Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be lifted up 
ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall 
come in." God's judgment has been visited on the 
sectarian churches, and the supernumerary churches 
have been united, and the millions that supported 
them have been poured into the treasury of foreign 
missions. 

The angel with the everlasting gospel is flying 
swiftly over the land, untrammeled by sectarian 
barriers, having the everlasting gospel to preach to 
them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, 



162 GODS MESSENGER. 

and kindred, and tongue, and people, and a " nation 
is born at once." 

The second angel comes with a message of glad- 
ness and good news, crying : " It is done, Babylon 
is fallen, is fallen, that great city." His work is 
finished. He soars up to heaven and 

" Claps his triumphant wings and cries, 
The great transaction is done." 



THE END. 



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